V T T 



Y BUSY YEAR 



EVANGEL IS' 



Class BV 3" 7&T 
GopyrightN? 

CLQHflRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



THE 

STORY of MY LIFE 

OR 

FORTY BUSY YEARS 



By ITHIEL T. JOHNSON, Evangelist 




pubushed by 
FrE£ Press Printing Company, 
burungton, vt. 

I912. 



3V 



Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1912. 
Ithiex T. Johnson. 
In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 



§CI.A328018 



TO MY WIFE}, 

Mary H. L. Johnson, 

whose: retentive mind and memory 
enabled -her to give me aid in the 
preparation of the following pages, 
this book is affectionately dedicated. 



PREFACE. 

I have often thought that I would like to write and publish 
my life's work, thinking it might be an incentive to the poor 
boy or girl to give their heart to Christ while young and let 
Him mould their future. It yet remains to be seen what God 
can do for a soul that will trust Him implicitly. As many of 
my friends have suggested to me to write my experience as a 
runaway errand boy in the War of the Rebellion, and how the 
Lord led me to give myself to Him and the results of it, I am 
persuaded to place this book before the public. 

I. T. Johnson. 

Perkinsville, Vermont, July, 1912. 



INTRODUCTION. 



In the New Testament Church there was a gradation of 
Christian workers, as Paul states in his letter to the Ephesians, 
as follows: — ''And He gave some to be apostles; and some, 
prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and 
teachers." 

We do not know whether the term, apostle, was limited 
to the twelve, or not; but it is certain that Paul was "called to 
be an apostle." They were regarded as the highest in author- 
ity, actually representing Christ. The prophets were not 
limited to foretelling future events, but to* foretelling, out of 
their own experience (under the inspiration of the Spirit), 
gosple truth mighty in its effects on men's hearts and con- 
sciences. The prophets, in all probability, were not itinerant; 
while the next in the series — evangelists, preached through a 
wide range of territory, proclaiming the gospel message for a 
short time in various places. In grade, the evangelists stood 
between prophets and teaching pastors. Such a one was 
Philip, the evangelist, who "has not the power or authority of 
an apostle, does not speak as a prophet, himself (though the 
gift of prophecy belongs to his four daughters), exercises ap- 
parently no pastoral superintendence over any portion of the 
flock." Thus we see that Luke, the writer of the Acts of the 
Apostles, had the candor to state that Philip's four daughters 
had an office superior to that of their father. 



s 



Th£ Story o£ My Life. 



Paul's appreciation of the work of an evangelist is seen in 
his last admonition to Timothy, his son in the gospel. This 
Paul, the aged, said just before uttering his swan-song — "I 
have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have 
kept the faith ; henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of 
righteousness/' 

The application of the term, evangelist, to the writers of 
the Gospel narrative, though not in the days of the apostles, 
but subsequently by the Christian Fathers, shows the superior- 
ity of the term, since it was evidently used by way of special 
honor. 

In modern times it is objected to evangelists that there 
is a great discount to their work; that many, counted as con- 
verts, soon backslide. But this is true of all forms of Chris- 
tian labor, as indicated by Christ, in the parable of the sower. 
Of the four classes of hearers, indicated by "the wayside," 
"stony ground," "thorny ground," and "good ground," only 
the latter brought forth fruit to perfection. This was sadly 
true of the preaching of John, the Baptist, who, according to 
Christ's estimate, was greater than Abraham, the founder of 
the Hebrew nation, greater than Moses, its lawgiver, and 
greater than any of the prophets. A vast multitude must have 
professed genuine repentance and faith in the coming Messiah, 
according to the following account: — "Then went out unto 
him Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region round about 
the Jordan ; and they were baptized of him in the Jordan, con- 
fessing their sins." This statement implies ten thousand, pos- 
sibly multiplied by ten. Of these, only about five hundred 



Introduction. 



9 



became disciples of Christ, during his earthly life. What a 
vast percentage of loss ! 

The writer of this Introduction has not seen the manuscript 
of this autobiography, but he is quite sure that the reader of 
it will not find the name of any academy, college, or theological 
seminary which afforded him equipment for his work. This 
lack of a scientific and literary preparation puts him into "the 
goodly fellowship" of the following great evangelists : William 
Taylor, the cosmopolitan evangelist, who toiled successfully 
on every continent and on several islands, working with four- 
teen different denominations, leaving, according to Dr. Pente- 
cost on India, a deeper mark than any other preacher, 
facetiously says of his preparation : — "I was not college-bred, 
but corn-bred." This intimates that he came fresh from the 
plow, from, his father's farm in Virginia, where his grand- 
mother had taught him to spell. The next of this "goodly 
company" is Dwight L. Moody who did a mighty work in 
America and in England. His preparation in the common 
school got no further than the "three R's," not reaching 
grammar, the rules of which he violated in every address he 
made, astonishing the Oxford professors by saying: — "I done 
it." Another, in this list, is the so-called "Gypsy Smith," 
called to preach when he was ignorant of the alphabet, and 
actually beginning when he had to skip the long words in his 
Scripture lesson, because he could not pronounce them. At 
this writing he is still in the field, winning thousands in Seattle. 
The last in this group of noted evangelists who started their 
work without scholastic education is not so well known to this 



10 



The Story otf My Life. 



generation. Benj. Abbott was born in Pennsylvania in 1732, 
and died in 1796. M'Clintock & Strong's cyclopedia says of 
him: — "Though an illiterate man, he was earnest, eloquent, 
enthusiastic, and self-sacrificing, and thousands were added to 
the church through his labors." He illustrated how God takes 
the sinner out of the pit of miry clay, by the method of the 
oyster-man in rescuing the oysters from the bottom of the sea, 
taking for his text, as he read it (Luke 19: 21), "Thou art an 
oyster man/' etc. When told of his mistake he said : — "Never 
mind the error ! We got several oysters !" 

Lest any reader should think that I am pleading for ignor- 
ance as a preparation for the Gospel ministry, and that I would 
pull down our Christian schools, I would answer: — "I would 
build them higher, and have in every one of them an upper 
room, where, in addition to the Hebrew tongue for explaining 
the Old Testament, and the Greek tongue for elucidating the 
New, I would have every student get the tongue of fire, in 
answer to the prayer : — 

"Give tongues of fire and hearts of love 
To preach the reconciling word ; 
Give power and unction from above, 
Whene'er the joyful sound is heard." 

If John Wesley, at the time of his heart-warming in a 
Moravian meeting had been an ignorant plowman, able only to 
read and write, God would doubtless have used him for the 
conversion of many. But when He would shake all England, 
he took John Wesley whose intellect was strengthened, clarified, 
and liberalized by his Oxford education, not only to convert 



Introduction. 



11 



the ignorant and vicious colliers and other peasants of England, 
but to inspire them to read good books, two hundred volumes 
of which he prepared for them, having organized them into 
classes and societies, thus becoming, in the estimation of secular 
historians, "the greatest organizer of a thousand years." In 
this way, as modern historians now acknowledge, he was the 
means of saving the English Crown and Nobility from a 
destruction like that which devastated France at the close of 
the eighteenth century. 

If any reader, realizing a call to preach, or to evangelize, 
is too poor, or too old to secure an institutional preparation, let 
him do as the lad in the Gospel did, bring his five loaves and 
three little fishes to his Lord and Master, wherewith to feed 
the hungry multitudes, as did the goodly company of evan- 
gelists described above. 

In conclusion, the writer would say that in two of his 
pastorates, he found this evangelist, I. T. Johnson, very 
effective, conducting his meetings in a manner above criticism. 
The genuineness of his work is seen in the fact that nearly 
two scores of those converted through his instrumentality have 
become preachers of the Gospel of Christ, an enviable record 
indeed. The fact that this evangelist is preparing his auto- 
biography, indicating that the end of his useful career is not 
far away in the future, awakens regret in the mind of the 
writer. 

Daniel Steele, D. D. 

Milton, Mass., Dec. n, 191 1. 



CONTENTS. 



Page 

Preface 5 

Introduction 7 

Chapter I. Ancestry and Early Childhood 15 

Chapter II. Observations as a Servant Boy in the Civil 

War 25 

Chapter III. My Second Trip to Washington 35 

Chapter IV. My Conversion 41 

Chapter V. My Sanctification 53 

Chapter VI. My Call to the Ministry . . 61 

Chapter VII. Early Experiences as an Evangelist 69 

Chapter VIII. Extensive Evangelistic Tours 91 

Chapter IX. Miracles of Grace 117 

Chapter X. Camp Meeting Work 133 

Chapter XL Recent Experiences and Summary 151 

Chapter XII. Sermons 161 

Autobiographies : 

Ministers 173 

Business Men 219 




Father and Mother Johnson. 



CHAPTER I. 
Ancestry and Early Childhood. 

My father, Lewis Arnold Johnson, come of the old French 
Huguenot stock, who settled in Oxford, Mass., and were 
massacred by the Indians in 1696, one child surviving, from 
which sprung my ancestry. His great-grandfather, Jotham 
Johnson, married Hannah Crosby, who was the daughter of 
Capt. Stephen Crosby, who assisted in establishing American 
Independence while acting in the capacity of captain. Stephen 
Crosby went out at the Lexington alarm as Sergeant in Capt. 
Elliott's company of militia. He was commissioned Captain 
in June, 1776. Served in New York City and on Long Island, 
caught by the retreat from the city, Sept. 15, and died instantly 
from drinking cold water. (Report of service found on page 
14 and page 398, in printed official report of Connecticut 
memorandum on the War of the Revolution). 

My father was born in Webster, Mass., Jan. 5, 1816, and 
during his early childhood his parents went to Macon, Ga., to 
live, leaving him to be brought up by his grandparents in West 
Thompson, Conn. My father, after his school days had 
passed, became a custom bootmaker, but often neglected his 
trade by following a sportman's life. He was a great lover 
of dogs and would train them for wealthy men. He was a 



16 



The: Story of My Life. 



strong Democrat, politically, but after he was converted became 
a Prohibitionist. He had a fiery temper and often showed it 
when talking politics. I can remember once, while arguing, 
that he got so mad that he broke the table and kicked the panel 
out of the door. At the age of sixty-two he was thoroughly 
converted and the next year wholly sanctified. He was a 
changed man, became a steward in the Methodist Church at 
Oxford, and was an honorable member of that church at his 
death. He died in the triumphs of faith at the age of seventy- 
seven. 

My mother was Lucy Ann Larned and was born in West 
Boylston, Mass., Feb. 9, 1817, and was married to my father at 
Northbridge, Mass., July 6, 1836. There were born to them 
eight children, six boys and two girls, one of the girls dying 
in infancy, and only two children survive at this writing 
(1912) : Albert E., of Southbridge, Mass., and the writer. I 
was the sixth child, and as my parents were very poor this 
child got but few things to even make him comfortable. 

To me my mother was a wonderful woman. She had 
many things to discourage her, but was always kind and patient 
under the most trying circumstances. I never knew her to 
give away to anger, nor did I ever hear an angry word pass 
her lips. She was always looking for the bright spots in life 
and good qualities in mankind. She would plan for the com- 
fort of all and made the scanty supply go a long way. 

Often my father would go away for weeks leaving noth- 
ing whereby to support his family, and mother would take in 
what work she could and work at night to earn a little to keep 



Ancdstry and Early Childhood. 17 



the wolf from the door. My brothers earned what they could, 
being unable to do much, and attend school. 

I remember that the winter of 1857 was a ver y trying" one 
and of our being in destitute circumstances. Mother would 
put us to bed, so she could wash our clothes, as we did not 
have a change of clothing. We lived on salt and potatoes 
the most of the time and seemed glad to get that. We burned 
brush for wood to keep from freezing, and mother has told 
us that many times, during the night, she would go upstairs 
into the open garret and brush the snow, that had drifted in, 
from off our beds. How often mother would take us in her 
arms and pity us, making the hardships seem easier. If it had 
not been for mother we would have been a divided family. I 
praise God for such influence every time I think of my mother. 
At this time she was not a Christian, so did not experimentally 
have the arm of God to lean upon as she did later in life. She 
was a well-read woman. 

I had the privilege of making a home for my parents 
during their declining years, and as my mother came to her 
deathbed, from a shock, and being unable to speak, I asked 
her if Jesus was precious to her, and if so to squeeze my hand 
and she gave my hand such a hearty grip, and soon plumed her 
wings and went off to Glory at the ripe age of seventy-five. 
Rev. Joshua Gill preached her funeral sermon, taking for his 
text: "She hath done what she could/' Mark, fourteenth 
chapter and eighth verse. He said: "She was a life-long 
Christian, a believer in and a witness to entire sanctification. 
She impressed her character upon her family and they hold 



18 



The Story of My Life:. 



her in loving and grateful remembrance. In her home, in the 
church, in the world, her life of usefulness made the words 
of the text a constant and abiding comfort." 

I was born at Douglas, Mass., July 26, 1849, an d when 
about six months old my parents moved to Oxford, Mass., 
where they lived for forty-five years or more. When I was 
about five years of age a man of wealth, by the name of Samuel 
Southwick, who hadn't any children, wanted to adopt me but 
my parents would not consent to it. I remember one day I 
gathered my few worldly possessions, including a pet hen, and 
went over to his home pretending to become his boy but as 
night came on I took my little bundle and my pet hen and went 
home to my mother. We enjoyed the winter as other children 
did, but my sled was a common dripping pan, never having 
any other kind until one day I picked up a keg of nails for an 
old gentleman and he gave me a nice new sled. I was so 
pleased with my new sled that I got up early the next morning 
and took my first slide before waiting to dress properly. 

My early advantages were very limited, my folks being so 
poor. I was bound out to work, on the farm of Marshall 
Pratt, at the age of eight. He said if I would come and work 
for him until I was twenty-one he would give me a pair of 
red calves he had, for my labor. I was so happy that I agreed 
to it at once, never thinking how old the calves would be. One 
day when we were getting up a flock of sheep, and they would 
not mind, I became afraid of them. He stepped up and said to 
me: "Don't be afraid, walk right up to them, like this," (he 
walked right up with quick, elastic step), when the ram turned 




Birthplace of Rev. I. T. Johnson. 



Anckstry and Early Childhood. 



19 



on him and butting him in the back, he went sprawling- on to 
his hands and knees. I was so pleased that I sung- out: "Go 
right along just like t-h-a-t." When he had picked himself up 
he said : "The pesky crittur never did such a thing in his life 
before." Pretty soon, when talking the thing over, he intimated 
that I must have been tormenting- the ram. I did not reply, 
for I guess I had. 

He was kind to me when sober, but often when under the 
influence of liquor would abuse me and many times threatened 
my life. I remember once he drove me out of the hay field 
and tried to cut my legs with a scythe, and I ran through the 
house and grabbed a gun, and put behind a large rock, and 
placing the barrel of the gun on the rock, I told him I would 
shoot him if he came near, and he went off. I told my 
parents about this, at my first opportunity, and they took me 
home. I then worked about town doing odd jobs, earning 
what money I could, sometimes getting my board and clothes, 
such as they were. I went to school a few weeks each year 
during the winter ; could have gone more perhaps but the law 
did not compel us to go then as it does now. 

I was a leader among the boys and was the first in pranks 
and mischief of all kinds, and if I had been dealt with as some 
of the older boys were, and as I deserved, would have been sent 
to a reform, school. I caused my teachers a great deal of 
trouble, some of them not knowing how to win me, while others 
did, thank God. 

Although my parents did not attend church my mother 
was always anxious that I should go, but I spent my time 



20 



The Story of My Life. 



roaming the fields, fishing and hunting on Sundays, which 
naturally led up to my being a nuisance to the farmers. I 
remember once of being in company with several boys (of 
the baser sort), and going into Paul Hill's pumpkin patch and 
breaking up and feeding out to Calvin Hall's cows, that had 
lined up to the wall, more than two hundred pumpkins, and 
for this depredation three or four of the older boys were sent 
to the Westboro Reform School. I should have been but for 
my age. 

Although a wild, reckless boy I never indulged in the use 
of tobacco or liquor but once or twice. I recall my first and 
last use of tobacco. I was coming from school when one of 
the older boys told me I never would be a man until I had 
learned to chew and smoke. He gave me a large piece of black 
navy tobacco, and I put it into my mouth and chewed and spit 
on my way home, trying to imagine I was a man. After he 
left me I sat on a bank wall, behind the shed of my home, not 
daring to go into the house for fear my mother would surmise 
what I was doing. I only sat there a few minutes when I 
heard my mother coming into the shed, and thinking she was 
coming to the back door I feared and trembled, and instead 
of spitting the tobacco out, I up and swallowed it. I remained 
where I was but a few minutes when my stomach began to 
churn and whirl and a deathly sickness passed over me. I 
got up and staggered into the house, and as soon as my mother 
set her eyes on me she knew I was sick for I was so pale. She 
asked me what made me sick, and I lied, saying: "I do not 
know." She put me to bed and put a bottle of hot water to 



Ancestry and Early Childhood. 21 



my stomach, aggravating my trouble, which set me to vomiting 
in a few minutes. Mother at once saw what made me sick, 
and then she tried to frighten me by saying: "Son, I don't 
know but you will die now, sure/' and I thought I should. 
I soon revived and vowed I never would be a man if that was 
one of the stepping stones, and I have never touched the stuff 
from that day to this. 

When the war broke out in 1861 I was just wild and 
reckless enough to be right among the men as they drilled 
about town, wanting to be where something was doing. When 
they went into camp at Worcester, Mass., I persuaded my 
parents to let me go with them for a few days. I made myself 
agreeable and handy by waiting upon the officers whenever I 
could, and then was invited to go South with them. This 
pleased me and fired me up with enthusiasm and rushing home 
to get ready my parents informed me that I could not go, 
and took away my good jacket, trousers and shoes, and made 
me wear an old pair of overalls, and go barefooted, thinking I 
would be ashamed to be seen out away from home. I was 
determined to go in spite of all, so slipped away and went to 
Worcester the day before the regiment started. I did not 
go direct ta the camp for fear my father would come after me 
as soon as I was missed, and make me go home, so hung around 
the horses and baggage wagons until evening. As the regi- 
ment boarded the train I hid among the baggage. When the 
train started for Norwich, Conn., I showed up, and as we 
passed through Oxford, the town's people were out to wave a 
farewell to the soldiers, and among them I saw my mother,. 



22 



Ths Story of My Lira. 



and I waved to her but she did not see me, but others did and 
told her I had gone. 

A man by the name of Cy Dodd, the teamster for the com- 
pany, looked after me what he could. We reached the boat 
landing at Norwich late in the evening and were loaded to the 
transport steamers for New York City. Here Capt. Watson 
called me to him and gave me a severe reprimand for running 
away from home and ordered me to take the next boat back. 
Of course I did not obey him but kept myself hid, being sure 
not to be seen until we reached Philadelphia. I do not remem- 
ber of having anything to eat since we started except hardtack 
given to me by the teamsters, but here in Philadelphia the 
people of the city fed the entire regiment in the "Old Cooper 
Shop," and I got my share. 

We left for Washington about 2 p. m., and as we passed 
through Baltimore, orders were given to load our guns and 
be ready for an attack, as the 6th Massachusetts had been fired 
upon by a mob just before this. We, however, were not 
molested, but some hooted and yelled insulting remarks. When 
we reached Washington the next day, I kept close to my old 
friend, Dodd, and we were soon on the march for camp, 
which was named Camp Callaramer, (it was at the head of 
what is now 14th street), I think. The tents were pitched 
and the camp was in a whirl of excitement. 

I was brought before the officers, consisting of Capt. 
Charles H. Watson, 1st Lieut. Bartholomew, 2nd Lieut. 
Bernard Vassal, to decide what to do with me. I was a sight 
to behold, as you can imagine. Lieut. Bartholomew asked me 



Ancestry and Early Childhood. 



23 



if I wanted to be a soldier, and when I told him I did. he said, 
"Well, if you are to be a soldier you must be dressed like one/' 
so he took me into the city and bought me a boy's soldier suit 
and had put on the front of my cap, 15th Mass. (which was 
the number of our regiment). I was assigned as a servant 
boy to Lieut. Bartholomew. I was a favorite among the sol- 
diers, especially of Co. E, as they were from my own town. 

My parents were informed where I was and were told that 
I should be looked after and that the first chance they had to 
send me home they would do so. My mother was very sor- 
rowful and greatly distressed about me and could not sleep 
nights worrying about her runaway boy. My father asked 
her one day why she worried so, she said: "I am afraid he will 
not get enough to eat," and father replied : "Ugh, that is the 
least of my troubles, for if there are but two meals in the whole 
city of Washington he will be sure to get one of them." 
Mother never forgot her boy and watched for my return 
every day and welcomed me with tearful eyes when I came 
back. 



CHAPTER II. 

Observations as a Servant Boy in the Civii, War. 

The first night after we left Washington I slept in the 
woods. Lieut. Bartholomew had been taken sick while on the 
march and had to be carried in an ambulance to Poolsville, 
Md. He never went into camp with us, but was put into a log 
house just outside of camp. I called every day and waited on 
him what I could. He gradually grew worse and one day his 
brother came to take him to their home in Massachusetts, but 
he never reached it, as they had to wait at Philadelphia, and he 
died while they were there. 

I soon became a general favorite among the officers and 
soldiers, being the youngest boy in the regiment. Often the 
men would catch me, after I had played some prank, and put 
me into a blanket and with a man at each corner of the blanket 
would throw me up into the air for a while, to the delight of 
the crowd. 

I took great pleasure in watching the drills and the sham 
battles that were fought between our regiment and the 19th 
and 20th Mass., that were camped near us. The officers of 
the day were greatly bothered with hucksters and had forbidden 
them to come near the guard line, but in spite of this they 
would find a way in. One day a colored rnan came with water- 



26 



Ths Story otf My Lim. 



melons and I thought it would be a good joke to pull the pin 
out of his wagon and dump the watermelons, and to think was 
to act on my part, and as one came rolling near me, and as 
I was making my way back over the guard line, the temptation 
being too great, I grabbed it and ran off jubilantly to the 
lieutenant's tent, telling him what I had done, thinking he 
would take it as a joke, but to my chagrin he ordered me to 
take it back to the man, and never to do such a thing again, 
and I had to, which was a great humiliation to me. 

On our way from Washington to Poolsville, a tramp of 
thirty-six miles, the regiment was thrown into great excite- 
ment over the report that there was a rebel camp ahead of us, 
and as we had seen a flag in the distance we naturally supposed 
it was so, but soon found out it was a signal station of the 
U. S. A. We had heard that the Confederates had been in 
Poolsville a few days before and so were disappointed as the 
men were eager for a battle. 

While on this march one day the boys saw in the distance 
a tree loaded with fruit. We all rejoiced, as we would have 
relished some just then, but a colored man warned us not to 
touch it, saying it was a persimmon tree, but even then we 
were bound to taste it, so one of the men lifted me into the 
tree to gather some. I felt it was my privilege to sample the 
fruit first, and did, and have never forgotten the taste of a 
green persimmon since. It puckered my lips and tongue and 
set my teeth on edge. Some of the boys that did not taste 
them were delighted with my uncomfortableness. 



Observations as Servant Boy in Civil War. 27 

We reached Poolsville the afternoon of the second day 
after we left Washington. We camped just outside of Pools- 
ville near Gen. Stone's headquarters. One day an officer sent 
me to the village to get some provisions at Mr. Higgins' store. 
While waiting there I met the mother and sister of Frederick 
Poole (the town of Poolsville was named after this family). 
They invited me to call on them; the next day, and I did. They 
were typical southerners, and although kind and courteous to 
me they were in secret sympathy with the south. They quizzed 
me in reference to the feelings of the north toward the south 
rebelling, and what preparation was being made to compel the 
seceding states to come back again into the Union. 

After the battle of Ball's Bluff I called on them again. 
They said they were glad to see me and had worried somewhat 
about me since the fight, and had wondered what had become 
of me. Grandma Poole said to me : "Did I not tell you if 
your people got into a fight with the secessionists they would 
get whipped ?" Just at that moment the door opened and the 
son appeared, and shook his head at her (intimating that she 
must be careful in what she said as a sentinel was stationed in 
their home at that moment guarding the body of Gen. Baker). 

One day at their home I was playing with one of their 
colored boys who was about my age, when he refused to do 
something I wanted him to do, and Grandma Poole, hearing 
him refuse came to the door and stamping her foot, said to 
me: "Make him do it," and handing me a stick told me to whip 
him. I did not want to do it, but for fear of displeasing her 



28 



The Story of My Life. 



I gave him one or two light blows. I afterwards was very 
much chagrined at the act. 

I was now placed in charge of Capt. Chas. H. Watson, 
but as he had a servant boy I had but little to do to take up my 
time, and this led me to grow as wild as a hawk and as rough 
as a western cowboy. I would go with the teams to Hagers- 
town, Md., after grain, and we would make it lively for all the 
turkeys we would see at the different plantations along the 
road. I remember once on our way home that we saw a large 
flock of turkeys down in a lot, the teamsters started for them, 
and of course I had to go, and soon got my eye on one, and as 
I grabbed him I noticed a number of officers, on horseback, 
crossing the river, and I let my turkey go free, and jumped 
upon the fence feigning innocence, for orders had been given 
by Gen. Stone that no foraging should be tolerated. When the 
officers came up I gave the salute, when one of them said: 
"Boy, why didn't you hang on to that turkey ?" I said: "I 
was afraid you would make me let him go." They laughed 
and said : "Oh, no," then I said : "Well, I can catch him again," 
and in a minute or two had him, and hustled to catch the team, 
just then I saw the planter coming over the brow of the hill 
with a long black whip in his hand, and I made for the river 
and escaped him. After making the team again I tied my prize 
to one of the strings of the cover of the wagon and believed 
him safe, but as some of the other teamsters had seen me do 
it, they stole him from me. 

I was always mounting every horse I could get on to, 
regardless of saddle. One day the quartermaster sent me to 



Observations as Servant Boy in Civil War. 29 

water his horse, it was a fiery animal and did not have on a 
bridle, just a rope around his neck and through his mouth. 
I mounted him and he soon got the rope out of his mouth and 
I was in for a wild ride. I rode him right through the village 
of Poolsville on a dead run. Just as he turned toward the 
camp there was a narrow lane, and the ground was very wet 
from the recent rains, and he was going at such a breakneck 
speed that he slipped clear over to the fence and it threw me 
over into a meadow and I landed right where there was an 
old sow with a litter of pigs. She with an "ough" was up and 
off, but I was a sight to behold, as you can imagine. 

I used to carry the daily papers into camp each morning. 
One day as I was going to get my papers I met Col. Chas. 
Devens' servant boy, he was a negro of about eighteen years 
of age; I disliked him very much, for several times he had 
called me names and bothered me some. I had warned him 
that if he ever called me names again I would boot him. He 
was larger than I but I knew he would not dare to strike me, 
so when I came near to him he ventured to call me names and 
I sprang at him, kicked him, smashing some eggs he was carry- 
ing in a basket to the colonel. He cried out : "I'll tell Massa 
Devens of you." I told him "I did not care for Massa Devens." 
Each day I was in the habit of leaving a paper at Col. Devens' 
tent, but this day I never went near there (for good reasons). 
The next day as I came near his quarters he called me to him 
and asked me why I did not bring his paper to him yesterday, 
and I said: "I sold them all out." He said: "Young man, I 



30 



The: Story of My Life. 



do not care how much you lick my nigger, but don't you break 
my eggs." 

On the 2 ist of October, 1861, occurred the battle of Ball's 
Bluff, and we were awakened at two in the morning by the 
beating of drums and the regiment was ordered out and told 
to march to Conrad's Ferry, nine miles away. We reached 
the banks of the Potomac river in the early morning. I had 
been told not to cross the river, but w T hen I heard the firing of 
guns, boy like, I was anxious to go and watched for a chance 
to cross. I heard Col. Baker ordering some men that were 
getting a scow out of the canal into the river, to transport his 
men across and I went with them. Col. Baker spoke to me 
and I said: "Colonel, who do you think will whip?" He said: 
"Wait Bub, we can give them a try." While Col. Baker was 
waiting to cross I saw his staff gathered about him, and I lis- 
tened and heard him say that Stone had ordered him to move 
his troops to the island, and to remain there until fighting 
should begin at Edwards' Ferry, and for him to then cross and 
take Leesburg so as to cut off the rebels' retreat. He disre- 
garded this order for I crossed over in the boat with Baker, 
and after landing on the island, he walked over to the opposite 
side and I followed him, here he ordered his troops transported 
by small boats to the Virginia shore, but I remained on the 
island. While I stood there I saw the troops cross amid a 
shower of bullets from Col. Evans' Confederate troops, who 
were trying to surround Col. Devens and his troops, but were 
driven back by Col. Baker. It was a never-to-be-forgotten 
sight and the bullets fell like hail all around me, and yet I did 



Observations as Servant Boy in Civil War. 31 

not seem afraid. I walked back to the middle of the island 
and the stray bullets went whizzing by me and I crawled under 
the fence for shelter. Just then Chaplain Ball (chaplain of the 
15th Mass.), came along and asked me what I was doing there? 
I told him I was afraid, and just then a bullet struck a rotten 
rail just over my head and I came out from there rather lively 
and took shelter behind a large bin of husked corn. Pretty 
soon I ventured to walk down to an old house where they were 
attending to the wounded and saw among them Lieut. Col. 
Ward, he had been shot in the leg and had to have it ampu- 
tated. 

The doctors were all hard at work, and I saw a pile of 
legs and arms more than five feet high. Just about this time, 
3.40 p. m., I saw the staff of Gen. Baker bringing to the island 
his body, for he had been shot by a sharpshooter. Shortly 
after this the order was given to retreat to the pitiful landing 
under the Bluff. The flat boat was almost instantly swamped 
by the rush of men upon it. 

"The Confederates followed the retreating troops as far 
as the edge of the bluff and potted them on the bank below. 
Two companies of New Yorkers, freshly landed, climbed the 
bluff to cover the retreat, and Col. Devens ordered his whole 
command to deploy for the same purpose. These men skir- 
mished until dark, when those who had clung to the bank were 
rushed by the Confederates and captured. When Col. Devens 
saw that the day was lost he told his men to save themselves. 
Some jumped into the river and swam to the Maryland side, 
with their muskets strapped to their backs. Others hid in the 



32 



The Story of My Life. 



woods on the Virginia side and stole across a day or two later 
after the battle." My captain, Chas. H. Watson, was among 
them. "Many were shot while swimming for safety. The 
total loss of Baker's command was forty-nine killed and seven 
hundred and fourteen captured or missing. This loss fell 
on about seventeen hundred men who crossed to the Virginia 
side. Col. Evans' Confederate force also numbered the same 
and lost one hundred and forty-eight killed and wounded." 

"Colonel Coggswell stayed with his men on the Virginia 
bank and was captured. In his official report he indirectly 
places the blame for the disaster on to Baker. He said that 
the transportation of troops across the river was badly or- 
ganized. There were no guards or detailed crews for the 
boats. The boats were not utilized to their full capacity, and 
cannon at hand on the Maryland side were not brought into 
action to cover the landing." 

I left the island in the same boat in which was Col. Baker's 
body and a number of wounded men. This boat was the last 
one to leave the island for the Maryland shore that night ; the 
next one was sunk, being overloaded with wounded men. As 
I approached the boat the chaplain stood there with drawn 
revolver, threatening that he would shoot the first man that 
attempted to get into* that boat if he was not wounded. Just 
then I saw Antoinne Phillips approaching the boat, limping. 
I had not heard that he had been wounded, so when he came 
up, I said: "Antoinne, are you wounded?" He said: "Yes." 
The chaplain took him by one arm and I the other and helped 
him into the boat, and I slipped in at the same time. When 



Observations as Servant Boy in Civil War. 33 

we reached the Maryland shore, to my surprise, Antoinne 
jumped into the air, slapped his leg- and cried out : "Antoinne 
saved again." He was not wounded at all. 

After I reached the canal on the Maryland shore I fell 
in with some of the men from my regiment, who had made 
their escape. We had only gone a few miles when we over- 
took the band and the drum corps, and heard them talk over 
the calamities of the day and wondered what would be the 
result of the defeat, and if the Confederates would cross over 
after us that night. About this time we heard the sound of 
horse's hoofs, coming from the direction of the river, and sup- 
posing it to be the enemy, our men put over a rail fence, drew 
their swords and declared they would fight before they would 
be taken prisoners. The horseman advanced within a hundred 
yards of us when some one of our men cried out: "Halt, who 
comes there?" and the answer came: "A friend," and surely 
it was a friend, for it proved to be our beloved Col. Devens. 
We ran to his side and found that he was naked except a 
blanket which was thrown over his shoulders, having- been 
pushed across the Potomac river on a plank by some men who 
knew he could not swim. After speaking words of comfort 
and cheer to the men he continued his journey to Pools ville on 
horseback. 

We reached there about one o'clock at night. The next 
morning was a sad gathering in the camp as we realized that 
our ranks had been greatly depleted, there only being about 
four hundred of us, the rest either being killed, wounded, or 
taken prisoners, or missing, but during the next few days a 
number came in who had been in hiding on the Virginia side, 



34 



The Story of My Life. 



and among them was Capt. Chas. H. Watson. Capt. Watson 
had been hiding between the floor joists under an old mill (he 
was a man weighing about two hundred and twenty pounds), 
not a very comfortable place to stay for twenty-four hours. 
While there, he said, the enemy came into the old mill and ate 
their breakfast, and he could hear their conversation as they 
gloried over their victory. 

During the next few days all the available places in the 
camp were occupied with wounded men, and my time was 
taken up waiting on them. Our ranks, as a company, had 
been so thinned, Sergeant Shumway was ordered back to 
Oxford, Mass., to enlist recruits. As soon as I found this out 
I asked permission to return with him, and it was granted, and 
I took with me two nice fat Maryland oppossums as pets. 

When I landed in town I was beset on every hand by 
mothers, sisters and wives, asking for the latest news from the 
front, and to some I was obliged to tell of the death of their 
loved ones, of the wounded in the hospitals, and of some who 
were taken prisoners. 

I lived about a mile from the station and while I was 
talking with the people, a boy preceded me to my home, shout- 
. ing through the streets : "Ithiel has come, Ithiel has come," 
so when I came in sight of my home, my precious mother 
stood in the doorway, weeping for joy at the thought of having 
her boy returned to her in safety once more. She came down 
the walk to meet me, and putting her great loving arms around 
me, gave me the kiss of welcome, and said : "Ithiel, my boy, I 
am glad you have come," and never mentioned my having 
run away. 



CHAPTER III. 
My Second Trip to Washington. 

In 1864 I ran away from home again; this time I paid my 
own way from money I had earned and saved for the trip. 
I had wanted to go back to the army and to Washington all 
the time I had been at home, and planned to do so- if I could 
get money enough. This time I went to take care of the 
wounded soldiers in the Emery hospital. I reached Washing- 
ton, February 26th, before Lincoln took his seat the last time. 
I was at the inauguration and saw him take his oath of office. 
It was a great day for the nation, and I was greatly impressed 
by the grand display of troops and the bands of music. 

I stayed at the Emery hospital only a few days, having 
accepted a position in a restaurant at the end of Fourteenth 
street, with a former member of the old 15th Mass. Regiment. 
I did not like this position at all and soon made an application 
to the office of the Washington Chronicle for a position as a 
news agent at the front; but as the army was returning to 
Washington, I was informed by the news agent, that I had 
better take a position nearer the city. While I was talking 
with him a gentleman came in and inquired about a boy that 
he could get to take a route, and I immediately stepped up and 
offered my services. He engaged me, and the next morning I 



36 



The Story of My Life. 



took my first trip, in a wagon, with a thousand Washington 
Chronicles to Geesebury Heights, opposite the city of Alex- 
andria. I had nine regiments and seven forts to supply. 

I used to get through delivering my papers about nine 
in the morning, and then would work in the sutler's shop, 
owned by Reed & Severance (Mr. Reed of Boston, and Mr. 
Severance of Claremont, N. H.), where they sold beer. Many 
times the men would ask me to drink with them, but I always 
refused. One day Mr. Severance said to me: "If you would 
take a glass, occasionally, when the men offer it to you I would 
be ten cents in." "Yes," said I, "and I would be a drunkard. 
If you want me to sell your stuff I will do it, but I will not 
drink it." 

This Mr. Severance, at the close of the war, used to buy 
horses and mules of the teamsters and ship them to New 
England. One day he ordered me to ride a mule off to pas- 
ture and I mounted it without a saddle. It had never been 
ridden before, and it began to buck and kick and I was thrown 
over its head. I mounted it again, and it started for the scrub 
oaks and my clothes were torn into shreds, and I returned a 
pitiful looking sight. 

At another time as I was about to cross the Navy Yard 
bridge, with my team, I heard the report of a gun from the 
Navy Yard, and in looking in that direction I saw a small 
cyclone sweeping up the river, and saw it catch a small boat, 
with two young men in it, and whirl the boat round and round 
and drive it furiously against the bridge, and my team was 
blown against the railing of the bridge, and I sprang for the 



My Second Trip to Washington. 37 



railing and hung on with all my might. Just at this time the 
boat, in which were the young men, crashed into the piling 
and one of the young men dropped into the bottom of the boat 
on to his knees and went to praying. They realized they were 
in a perilous position and grasped the iron braces of the bridge 
and drew themselves up and were saved. As soon as they 
knew they were safe, the older one said to the younger, calling 
him by name : "What were you doing down there in the bottom 
of the boat?" He answered: "I was praying. I thought it 
high time that something was done." The question and 
answer set me to thinking seriously and I felt I ought to pre- 
pare to meet my God, but threw the conviction off in a few 
hours. 

I used to get up at two o'clock in the morning, ride into 
the city and return with my papers about seven. The morn- 
ing that President Lincoln was shot I came very near being 
shot myself, by a patrol that had been sent out to guard the 
road crossing the Navy Yard bridge. I had always driven to 
the bridge gate, and the guard on that bridge would open the 
gate and allow me to go through; but this morning I was 
halted more than a half a mile from: the bridge. I could see 
by the dim twilight the forms of men and horses a few rods in 
advance. I thought at first I would turn my horse and run, 
thinking perhaps I was to be robbed, as some had been on that 
road. However, I was soon ordered to dismount. I hesitated 
in doing this there being so much mud in the road, but I was 
again ordered to dismount, and I knew I must obey or they 
would dismount me with a shot. 



38 



The Story otf My Life. 



I hardly reached the ground from my horse's back before 
I was surrounded by more than two hundred cavalrymen. The 
commanding officer asked me where I was going. I told him 
I was going to the city after my papers, and he said : "Rather 
early for news boys?" I told him it was my custom to pass 
that way at that hour. He ordered one of his men to take my 
horse. I told him I would take care of my own horse, when 
he very sharply commanded the sergeant to take my horse, and 
I was placed between two men and marched down through the 
mud, to my discomfort. When we reached the bridge, I said 
to the captain : "If the guard on the bridge knows me you will 
let me go, won't you?" He said: "Certainly," and took me 
to the gate and asked the guard if he knew me. The guard 
said : "Yes, that is our news boy." He then ordered the 
sergeant to return my horse to me, and took me by my foot 
and gave me a toss on to my saddle. I gave him the salute 
and bade him good morning. The reason I was thus held up 
was because Booth had crossed the Navy Yard bridge that 
morning, and I was suspected as being a spy returning with 
messages to his friends in Washington. 

Up to this time I had not heard that President Lincoln 
had been assassinated. When I reached the opposite side of 
the bridge I asked the guard what the trouble was, and he 
said : "The President has been shot." I could not believe it 
and turned my horse and rode toward the city. When I 
reached the street, running between the old and the new 
capitol, an Irishman on guard there, called to me "to halt," but 
before I did I was right upon him. I said : "What is the 



My Second Trip to Washington. 



39 



matter?" He said: "Haint ye herd the President was shot?" 
I replied : "I do not believe it," gave my horse a clip and rode 
by him. He permitted me to go on, but had orders not to 
allow any one to pass without reporting to ; the provost guard. 

I went to the Chronicle office and found everybody very 
much excited. I was unable to get my papers until about 
eleven o'clock that morning, after the death of Lincoln. 

When I returned to the camp the men were so> anxious 
to get the papers that they broke the line of guards and 
rushed out more than half a mile to meet me. I told them I 
should not be able to make any change that morning, and some 
of them gave me as high as a two dollar bill. The next day a 
picket line was stretched for twenty miles for the purpose of 
preventing, if possible, the escape of Booth. No one could 
pass in or out of Washington without an order from the 
provost guard. 

About this time I received a word from home that my 
brother Fred had enlisted and was in the 2nd Mass. Cavalry, 
and as the troops were now gathering around Washington I 
hoped I might find my brother. I made inquiries and found 
that his regiment was then located at Fairfax Courthouse, and 
I at once laid my plans to find him. I found him very sick and 
uncomfortable and homesick. We soon got him home but he 
only lived a short time after reaching there. 

When the funeral of Lincoln occurred, and while his body 
was lying in state at the Capitol, I had a chance to look on the 
face of our martyred President. 



40 



The Story of My Life. 



I remained in Washington but a few weeks after this, as 
I was anxious to see the home folks. Before I left the city I 
saw that grand review of Grant's, Sherman's and Sheridan's 
troops ; a three days' march through the city. It was a scene 
never to be forgotten by me, for where regiments went out 
one thousand and ten men strong, their ranks had been reduced 
to a few battle-scarred men, and many of the color bearers only 
carried a remnant of a flag, perhaps just the staff with just a 
few ribbons flying from it. As they passed I saw men take 
off their hats and women their bonnets and bow their heads 
and weep in reverence, for they knew that those men had bared 
their breasts on the battlefield to save our Union. 

As the war was now at a close I returned to my home. 



CHAPTER IV. 
My Conversion. 

In these days when the divinity of Christ is somewhat 
questioned, when His teaching, relating to the new birth, as 
seeing it in His conversation with Nicodemus, is being taught 
as a thing of the past, when so many isms or wild theories are 
substituted for genuine regeneration, I wish to record here in 
the presence of God, my real experience of being born again. 
The Word of God corroborates my experience and thousands 
have experienced the same thing. 

My earliest recollections were a natural tendency to be a 
Christian, At four years of age God moved on my heart. 
My mother's life, without Christ, was a human factor toward 
my salvation. It was impossible for me to throw off the leadings 
of the Spirit. I was addicted to swearing and recognized it 
as an enemy, but entered into none of the other evil habits of 
the day. 

Once while working on a farm in the western part of Dud- 
ley, Mass., which is now known as the Dudley town farm, I 
was walking down by the bank of the Quinnebaug river on a 
Sunday afternoon, when all at once a voice within seemed to 
say : " You ought to be a Christian." I was afraid and began 



42 



The: Story of My Life. 



to look about me, actually expecting to see somebody beside 
me. I was all alone and began to tremble from head to foot, 
and as I walked along I could hear the water rippling down 
over the rock and it seemed to be urging me to give myself to 
Christ. I became alarmed and saw myself a dreadful sinner. 
I threw myself upon the ground and cried aloud to God. I 
had never received much instruction in religious things, so of 
course was very ignorant as to the way of salvation. I wept and 
cried but got no relief, but as I arose from my knees I vowed 
in my heart that I would be a different boy. I did as many 
others do in these days, resolved in my own strength to break 
away from bad habits, to try and live a better life. I even told 
one of the men on the farm that I was going to try and be a 
different boy. He said : "I think it is high time you did." I 
went four days without using a profane word. I was trying 
hard to live religion without any experimental knowledge of 
my sins being forgiven; and of course my resolutions were 
soon broken, as I had great trials while working on this farm. 
I now have the greatest sympathy for a boy that is working on 
a farm, with four lazy men. A boy, they say, can do every-- 
thing ; he can keep the woodbox full ; take care of the chickens ; 
care for the pigs ; milk four cows ; trim around the walls with 
a scythe after the mowing machine ; run a tedder ; run a rake ; 
mow away hay in the top of the barn, the thermometer regis- 
tering 102° in the shade, where a man could not possibly live 
but a short time for the lack of air ; and above all, the boy could 
turn the grindstone, with a man lying right down on the stone 
to grind his scythe and saying: "turn, come, turn, you lazy 



My Conversion. 



43 



thing." If he can keep his patience through all this, with 
four men hollering at him, all asking him to do different 
things at the same time, he certainly can do well. Under these 
circumstances I broke my solemn vow that I would be a dif- 
ferent boy. 

We had worked hard all summer, and I was all tired out, 
and Mr. Ormsby said to me: "Ithiel, we will get in that jag of 
oats and after that we will have time to rest the remainder 
of the afternoon." The thought of having "rest" that after- 
noon brought great joy to my heart. I immediately hitched 
up a yoke of cattle, that weighed some over forty hundred, 
and got that small load of oats on and proceeded to* drive up 
the hill to the barn, when about half way up the cattle balked, 
I tried my best to* get them to go but they would not do it. 
Mr. Ormsby took the whip and tried it himself, and they 
backed down over the wall and upset the load. Of course by 
this time I was angry, but held my tongue. Soon Mr. Ormsby 
said to me: "Go and get that pair of red steers," (a pair four 
year olds). I started down across the lot, as mad as a boy 
possibly could be under the circumstances. When I reached 
the bars where the steers were, they stood there seemingly 
waiting for me. I was so glad I had not got to hunt that field 
over to find them. I took the yoke out of the yoke box and 
started for the off one, when it seemed all at once that the 
evil one possessed those steers. They started and ran around 
that twenty acre lot, and I after them. I must confess, to my 
shame, that I sang something beside Methodist hymns. 



44 



Thp: Story otf My Lira. 



I returned with the cattle and hitched on to the load and 
drew it up to the top, and the men began to make sport of me 
because they had heard me swear and knew that my resolutions 
had been broken. This greatly annoyed me, as I had always 
prided myself that when I said a thing I would carry it out at 
all hazards. But the Holy Spirit, who had been moving on 
my heart for days did not leave me. I soon asked Mr. Ormsby 
for the privilege of attending a Methodist camp meeting at 
Sterling, Massachusetts, some sixty miles away. I had not 
been brought up a Methodist, and knew but a few of that 
faith and he thought it strange that I should make such a 
request. He said: "You want to go to camp meeting?" I 
said : "Yes, sir, I do." And he gave his consent. 

Now up to this time, the thought of my becoming a Chris- 
tian, and uniting myself with the people of God, had not en- 
tered my mind, but the Holy Spirit was leading me. I walked 
eight miles to Webster and took a train for the camp. On the 
train I met an old acquaintance, a rough, uncouth sort of a 
fellow. We were both standing on the rear platform of the 
train, and I was sitting on the brake, twirling round and 
round. All of a sudden I said to him : "Emery, where should 
I go to if I should fall off from this brake?" He looked me 
square in the face, and pointing his finger at me, said : "John- 
son, straight into hell." That remark, coming from that 
wicked boy, set me to thinking about my soul again, and I 
slipped off from that brake, backed up against the railing of 
the car, and said to myself : "That remark is certainly true." 



My Conversion. 



45 



I reached the camp Monday night, and at the first service, 
in the old Oxford tent that I attended, Bro. Thurston, an old- 
time Methodist, was conducting a class meeting. In class meet- 
ing everyone is expected to take part. I sat there and listened, 
until the class leader got pretty near me, and then planned to 
run, but I said to myself : "I have been where the bullets were 
thick and did not run, I will not run from Bro. Thurs- 
ton." Then I felt like getting mad, but when Bro. Thurston 
said so gently, so kind and loving: "Bro. Ithiel, won't you 
speak ?" it melted me and I said : "I want you to pray for me." 
He did, and he seemed to tell the Lord all about me. As these 
people were from my native town, and knew me and my life so 
well, they were surprised, but they gathered around me and 
gave me encouragement. They told me to pray for myself, 
which I did ; and from Monday until Friday night, I went 
forward for prayers, three times a day, and at half past eleven 
o'clock, Friday night, I received the witness of the Spirit to the 
fact that I was born of God. With great ecstacy of joy I 
leaped to my feet, shouting: "I have found Him." I felt like 
one of old who declared that he did not know whether he was 
in the body or out of the body, but I knew that a transforming 
power had taken place in my life. 

What was the reason that I did not get the light before I 
did, you ask?Tt was only because I was trying to bring God to 
my terms. He says, in John XIV, 26, that He will teach us 
and bring all things to our remembrance. He certainly did to 
me. I was convinced that I must make some wrongs right, or 
be willing to make them right, before I could be saved. There 



46 



The: Story of My Life. 



are many seekers today who stumble over the obstacle "restitu- 
tion/' but in Matthew III, 8, we are told to "Bring forth 
therefore fruits meet for repentance." Two years before I 
went to camp meeting, I was the shaving merchant in town. 
I used to buy the shavings from the planing mill and sell 
them by the barrel. My wagon was in poor condition and one 
day Mr. Hodges, a wealthy manufacturer in the town, said to 
me : "Ithiel, if you will go over to my mill, you can have a 
double runner sled that is there." I did. It needed a little 
repairing and I took it over to Grandpa Putnam's, who was a 
wheelwright, to have it repaired. When I went to get it he 
told me that it would be one dollar and thirty-five cents. I 
paid him the dollar and promised him to pay the thirty-five 
cents later, but in my heart vowed I would cheat him out of it. 
When I began to seek salvation that thirty-five cents came up 
before me. I would pray : "Oh, Lord, save me," but some- 
thing would seem to say to me : "What are you going to do 
about that thirty-five cents you owe Grandpa Putnam?" I 
would try to dodge it, try to get over it, try to get around it, 
try to get under it, but no, there it was staring me in the face. 
I said : "I cannot make it right, I am fifty miles from home." 
The Spirit whispered to my burdened soul and said: "I will 
take you on trust, if you will promise to pay it as soon as you 
can." It took days before I was willing to say I would make 
that crooked thing straight. I finally cried out : "I will," and 
in a moment, like a flash from Heaven, came a clear witness 
that I was saved. I went to my home after that camp meeting 
a happy boy. 



My Conversion. 



47 



I succeeded in getting work in the shoe shop. After two 
weeks' work I received my pay and immediately started for 
Grandpa Putnam's shop. I found him there (a man over 
eighty years of age and very deaf) and I said : "Do you remem- 
ber when I had you repair my sled?" "No, I don't/' he said. 
"Well, I do, and you charged me a dollar and thirty-five cents 
for it. I paid you the dollar and vowed I would cheat you 
out of the thirty-five cents." "You did," he said, "well, I do 
declare." I said : "Well, I have been converted to God and I 
must pay it and I not only want to pay you the thirty-five cents 
but want to pay forty-five cents." I paid him, and like a 
flash from Heaven, God blessed my soul. I mounted his car- 
penter's bench, walked right over his tools and told him what 
God had done for my soul. He was an unconverted man, but 
whirled round and round, weeping and wiping his eyes. I 
never knew how long I talked or how I ever got down from 
that bench, I was so completely lost to myself. I went to my 
boarding place leaving the old man in tears. Grandpa Put- 
nam soon went into his house and told his wife that he believed 
that little Johnson boy had got religion, and related to her the 
instance. She started for my mother's house, a half mile 
away, supposing I was there, and told her (my mother was 
then unconverted) what had happened and left the ten cents. 
In a few days Grandpa Putnam was converted, a little later his 
wife came, and soon my precious mother was saved. Did it 
pay? Within a year Grandpa Putnam died in the triumphs 
of faith, within six months Grandma Putnam followed him 
to the spirit land, and years afterward my mother plumed her 



48 



The Story of My Life. 



wings for her Heavenly home, and I alone am left to tell the 
story. What if I had not surrendered to God, and humbled 
myself, and confessed and restored ? I am sure I should never 
have received grace, and possibly Grandpa and Grandma Put- 
nam and my dear mother would never have been saved. All 
glory to Jesus for this victory of grace. 

Saturday morning I returned to my home in Oxford to 
visit my parents over the Sabbath. When I reached the sta- 
tion I met one of my former chums, with whom I used to roam 
the fields on Sabbath, and he stepped up to me and said: 
"Ithiel, I understand that you have been converted." I said, 
"Yes, I have ; Glory to God !" He left me at once. I had no 
trouble in getting rid of that kind of a companion. I have 
always been thankful that I was more than exposed to religion, 
for I had the disease bad, the real thing, and did not have it 
light, either. I met another fellow the other side of the depot, 
and he said : "Ithiel, I understand that they got you up at the 
camp meeting ?" I said: "Glory to God, He has got me," and 
you ought to have seen him, he could not get away from me 
quick enough. I then went to my home (my father, mother, 
sister, and all my brothers were unsaved), and when I went 
into the house, they were all sitting at the dining table. After 
I asked grace quietly, to myself, one of my brothers straight- 
ened up and said : "Ithiel, we understand that you have become 
a Christian." I just could not stand it another moment, and 
I gave vent to my feelings, and shouted, and said : "Glory to 
God, Glory to God ! Yes, I have been saved." This outburst 
of joy from my heart and lips astounded them, and they im- 



My Conversion. 



49 



mediately left the dining hall, and left me all alone. The next 
Sabbath I attended the Methodist Church, and as I drew near, 
two of the brethren were standing on the steps, talking over 
the results of the camp meeting, and I heard one of them say : 
"Has anything been done for our church?" "No," the other 
answered. Then the first speaker asked: "Has anyone been 
converted from the town?" The other answered, in sup- 
pressed tones: "No, no one but that little Johnson boy, the 
gambler's son." As soon as I heard this, instead of its crush- 
ing me, right on the eve of my religious experience, I vowed 
in my heart : "If there isn't but one Johnson in Heaven, here 
goes." I have lived to see the day when those two men sat in 
that very church and listened to my preaching. I have never 
told them what I heard them say, but I have kind of ached to. 

On the following week I returned to the farm in Dudley, 
where I had been working, to finish out my time, and then 
returned to Oxford and went to work in a shoe shop for a man 
by the name of Otis Foster. He was a class leader in the 
M. E. Church, and I went to board in his family. They were 
a Godly family, and his precious wife was one of God's elect. 
She greatly encouraged me and helped me during those early 
days of my Christian experience. 

I soon united with the class in the M. E. Church, and was 
baptized, by immersion, by Rev. Daniel E. Chapin, and six 
months afterwards was taken into full connection. With the 
exception of a few years (while pastor at Johnson), I have 
been and am now a member of that church. 



50 



The: Story of My Life. 



Before I had united with the church in full membership, 
and while working in the shoe shop, the men used to try to 
get me provoked in various ways. Often I would find my 
shoe hammer covered with paste, and my dies filled with wood, 
which necessitated my taking them to pieces. One day one of 
them said to me: "Johnson, I will give you just six months, 
and then you will be back among the boys, the same as ever." 
I said : " What day is this ?' He told me, and I said : "Chalk 
it down up there on the wall, for I am none of your six months' 
men." He did, and when the six months were up I came in 
and called his attention to the date, and said : "Now, Fred, you 
can write right on the end of that, 'for time and through 
eternity.' " 

When I worked in C. C. Corbhrs shoe shop there was not 
a boy in the room that professed to be a Christian, and so they 
would make me the butt of ridicule, and called me "the little 
minister." One day when I was in the sole leather room, and 
had filled my apron with top lifts, an Irishman by the name of 
Mike Farley, said to me : "You are talking religion all the 
time." I said : "Yes, Mike, and you ought to be a Christian, 
and if you were you would not have to appear in the police 
court as often as you do." He turned and said, jestingly: 
"Will you pray for me?" I said: "Yes, Mike, get down on 
your knees." He did, and in all the din and confusion, I 
prayed for him. After we had gotten up from our knees he 
went upstairs and said to the boys : "Faith and there is a prayer 
meeting going on in the sole leather room." He did not tell 
them who the subject of prayer was, but never again, while I 



My Conversion. 



51 



worked there did he ever torment me. I could always count 
on him as my friend. Years passed and after I was married, 
he called on us at our cottage, on the Douglas camp ground, 
and asked us to pray for him, not in sport this time, but had a 
feeling of a real heart-need of Christ. 

I consider myself very fortunate, after I was converted, 
and so many temptations lying in wait for me, to be thrown 
under the influence of such grand people as Bros. Thurston, 
Phipps, Foster, Pease, and their wives. I also feel very grate- 
ful at this critical time in my life to have as one of my school 
teachers, Miss Fannie Robinson. She was always kind, and 
good, and patient to and considerate of me, and with her 
Christian fortitude added a great deal to the moulding of my 
life. 

While I was at home I was constantly exercised over the 
salvation of others, and used to take Saturday afternoons to 
distribute tracts and visit and pray with the poor and the 
neglected in the community. I remember especially one man, 
Sam Benson, as being one of the most miserable drunkards in 
the whole county ; and his wife also took to drinking. I used 
to go to their house and open the door and throw in a tract, 
and then would make "tracks," with my heels toward the door 
as quickly as possible, for fear he would hit me with a shoe 
hammer. But my feeble efforts were rewarded, shortly after- 
wards, in the conversion of this man and his wife. They both 
lived for years a pure life, and died in the triumphs of faith. 

Up to this time I was about the only boy in the town who 
professed to be a Christian, but in a short time a revival broke 



52 



The; Story of My Life. 



out, and there were between ninety and a hundred conversions. 
Many of my former companions were brought into the fold 
of Christ, and six young men from our church entered the 
ministry. 

I remember what joy came into my heart when I was 
privileged to know that I was instrumental in leading a soul to 
Christ. It was during some meetings that I was holding in the 
old No. i schoolhouse in town. The house was packed to the 
doors, and in my fervor I grabbed a chair, and placing it in 
front of the desk, I said : "If there is one soul here that wants 
to find Christ enough to come out here and kneel at this chair, 
let him come, and come now." Immediately a young man, 
about seventeen years old, Horatio Rich, came and knelt at the 
chair, and after a few minutes of prayer, he testified that God 
had set his captive soul at liberty. He has been, for a great 
many years, and is now, the superintendent of the Methodist 
Sunday School. 



CHAPTER V. 

My Sanctification. 

I had been converted some eight years, retaining a clear 
experience of justification, and could say, during all that time: 
"There is therefore now no condemnation." I had a mar- 
velous experience, walking with God, up to all the light He had 
given. I can consciously say I had not felt the moving of 
anger at any time, during the eight years of my conversion, 
when one day while under provocation, I was actually terrified 
to find this lurking enemy in my bosom. It happened on this 
wise: I had a friend Warren, that I thought a great deal of, 
and another so-called friend Walter, who went to Warren and 
told him some lies about me. Warren became angry with me 
and occasionally when we would meet, would intentionally 
slight and snub me. I wrote him a note and asked him why he 
did not come down and see me as he used to. He answered : 
"I should not think you would want to see me after what you 
have said to Walter about me." A day or two afterward I 
met both of the young men on the street and said to Warren : 
"I have never said one word to Walter about you." I then 
turned to Walter and said: "What made you lie to Warren 
about me ?" He never replied, but stepped up and deliberately 



54 The: Story of My Life:. 

slapped me on the face. I was surprised, but thinking I would 
follow out the teachings in the Scripture, I turned the other 
cheek, and he slapped me on that one. I then faced him and 
said : "I do not want anything more to do with you until you 
can treat me like a gentleman, good evening/' and I turned 
and walked away. I can truthfully say, God being my judge, 
I never felt the least bit of anger in my soul when he struck 
me, only a spirit of sorrow and sadness. I went directly to 
my home and up to my room, filled with sadness, knelt down 
beside the bed and beg'an to pray, and in a minute heard 
Warren and Walter, through my open window, on the street 
below quarreling. I heard Warren say: "What made you 
strike him?" and in a second, right then and there, on my 
knees, I became as mad as a hornet. I sprang to my feet, 
walked that room back and forth, with clenched fists, and I 
know if Walter had walked into my room just then I would 
have struck him. I walked that room until I got the mastery 
of my feelings. I did not commit sin by giving away to 
temper, but I was frightened when I discovered I had such a 
tiger tied up in me, and feared it might break out when I could 
not control it. 

I at once became hungry for perfect love. I recalled to 
my mind some people who claimed to have this blessing, and 
remembered how they would testify and pray with sweetness 
and much power : Dana Robinson and his wife, Sisters Wiley, 
Daley, and Bro. Prince. I loved to hear their testimonies 
although I was not sanctified. I looked back and could see 
that what Bro. Thurston said that what he and his wife re- 



My Sanguification. 



55 



ceived at Manheim camp meeting was what I needed, wanted 
and must have — a clean heart. 

I heard that one of my dear friends, Charles S. Davis of 
Oxford, had got sanctified, so out of curiosity went up to the 
old church the next Tuesday evening to class meeting, to hear 
him testify to what God had wrought in his soul. I found it 
greatly stirred me up, and I became critical, and even doubted, 
so did not enjoy the meeting as I ought to. At the close 
of the meeting Charlie came to me and said, with his arm 
about me: "Oh, Bro. Johnson, I do wish you had this ex- 
perience." I drew myself up and said : "If you have got any- 
thing that I have not got, of course I want it," and knew and 
felt, down in my heart, that he had something that I did not 
have. I have since learned that the majority of people who 
are under conviction have a tendency to answer as I did. 

In a few weeks from this, in the month of July, 1873, Bro. 
Thurston, an old class leader in our church, invited a number 
of us to attend a National Camp Meeting at Landersville, 
Penn., and eleven from our church attended, and I was one of 
that number. The meeting was in charge of Rev. John S. 
Inskip, and he had such men as McDonald, Wood, McLean, 
Pratt, Munger, Searles, Osgood, Foot, Gorham, Lowery, and 
many other men and women, of like faith and experience, to 
help him. I met here and heard, for the first time, Sister 
Amanda Smith, that colored queen of the south. I had 
learned to like colored people after I was converted, and after 
I had heard Amanda give some of her experiences, I was 
delighted with her, and for years afterward had the privilege 



56 



The Story oe My Life. 



of entertaining her at our cottage on the Old Douglas camp 
ground and also at our camps at Johnson, Vermont, and Rich- 
mond, Maine. 

This Landersville meeting was a wonderful meeting. 
There were hundreds of tents and wagons all over the ground, 
and thousands of people from different parts of the world 
were in attendance. I had never seen anything like it in my 
life; such clear preaching, such power manifested, and such 
wonderful altar services. One day I listened to Bro. Inskip 
preach, and when he came to the altar service, he asked all the 
people to go down on their knees, and it was reported that 
there were twenty thousand people on their knees at once, and 
what a time we had. I shall praise God through all eternity 
that it was my privilege to be there. It was under these favor- 
able circumstances and conditions that I was led to see just 
what I lacked and what I needed, and so went forward to the 
altar a definite seeker for heart holiness. 

I was honest, made my consecration, but did not get the 
witness that I wanted, or as others did around me. At the 
close of this service Bro. Inskip said : "All of you that have 
made a complete consecration, go from this altar crying, in 
your hearts, 'the blood cleanseth.' " The devil suggested to 
me to be very careful that I was not deceived, and not to say 
I had it until I felt I had. Just then, Bro. Inskip said: "I say 
go out by faith, crying 'the blood cleanseth/ " I turned away 
and said: "The blood cleanseth," and it seemed that all the 
power from the pit was on my track to thwart me. I met a 
sister, from the church at Webster, Mass., and she said to me: 



My Sanguification. 



57 



"I do not like this meeting as well as I do at Sterling" (meaning 
the camp meeting at Sterling, Mass.), do you?" She had 
been at the altar seeking this experience and the enemy was 
after her too, so I said: "Well, I am determined to say the 
blood cleanseth, because the Word says it does." I passed 
along, crying in my heart, and the enemy in hot pursuit, when 
I stopped and said, as if he were in person at my side : "You 
lying devil, the blood cleanseth/' and like a flash from heaven, 
God led me into the light of sanctification. I had it and knew 
it, the blessing I sought, Glory to God. I ran to my tent, 
shouting as I ran : "I've got it, I've got it," and let me say right 
here, I am sorry I cannot say I have constantly maintained the 
blessing, for I have not ; there have been times, in these years 
of experience, when I have felt a "leakage of love," for a few 
hours, but I did as Fletcher did, I flew back to the all-cleansing 
blood, and sought and received forgiveness. 

I can truthfully say today that I maintain a clear witness 
that my heart is cleansed through the all-atoning blood of 
Jesus, for which I continually praise His name. 

"O, I love to tell the blessed story, 

Since the Lord sanctified me; 
For my soul received a flood of glory, 

When the Lord sanctified me. 
O, I never can forget how the fire fell, 

When the Lord sanctified me." 

I have found some opposition, when I have presented this 
subject as a definite work of grace, after conversion. In some 
instances I have found and still do find, it comes from the fact 
that the people do not understand what the Bible teaches in 



58 



The Story otf My Life. 



reference to it. Some teachers have been unwise in present- 
ing this subject. I find but a very few pastors that teach this 
doctrine, according to the doctrinal standards of the church, 
and I think that is the reason why we do not see more revivals 
as the early Methodists did. Mr. Wesley said that wherever 
he found this doctrine faithfully preached and enjoyed he 
found that church in a flourishing condition, and where it was 
not preached the church was in a waning condition. After 
years of close observation, I find this true of the church today. 
"Some pastors do not want holiness preached in their churches 
because they fear it will make a division and a disturbance. 
Holiness disturbs nothing but sin." I have found some min- 
isters who are very much disturbed with a few people, who 
persist in attending the prayer and class meeting, and confess 
that they are sanctified, holiness people; but the preacher is 
not disturbed with some of his church members who use 
tobacco and attend dances and card parties and the theatre, 
and who never support the class or prayer meeting. Why is 
this? 

the: true physician. 

I am sure I was converted, 

And my sins were washed away, 
For I had my Saviour's presence, 

And the witness day by day. 
But my spirit still was tainted 

With a stubborn strange disease, 
Which oft made me feel more willing 

Self instead of Christ to please. 



My SancTification. 



I advised with many doctors, 

Seeking for a perfect cure, 
But their notions all were different, 

And they failed to make me pure. 
Doctor Ignorance informed me 

That conversion cured all, 
Purifying all the nature 

Which was ruined by the fall. 

But I knew he was mistaken, 

For my Bible taught me so, 
And my "up and dawn" experience 

Told me that he did not know. 
Doctor Works and Doctor Water, 

Doctor Growth and Doctor Fire, 
All were free with their opinions 

But to help me failed entire. 

Then I heard of Doctor Culture, 

Who could polish the outside, 
But he could not reach the evil, 

And a cure of sin provide. 
Nor could Doctor Imputation 

Understand my case at all, 
Nor could Doctor Sin Repression, 

So I ceased on them to call. 

Many said that I must suffer 

With my painful soul disease, 
Until Doctor Death would free me, 

Only he could give release. 
But I knew they were mistaken, 

And I freely told them so, 
Else redemption was a failure, 

And my Saviour's promise, too. 



The: Story ot A My Live. 

All these doctors had their plasters, 

Which they wanted me to try, 
But they never wrought a cure, 

So I bade them all good-bye. 
Then I yielded all to Jesus, 

Unto self and sin I died, 
And reposing on his promise, 

I by faith was sanctified. 

Now I know the Great Physician 

Can effect the Double Cure, 
And the heart of each believer 

Make and keep completely pure. 
Christians, won't you seek this blessing, 

Waiting for you from above? 
It is Pentecostal Power, 

It is Jesus' perfect love. 

M. W. Knap p. 



CHAPTER VI. 

My Ca^ to the: Ministry. 

Within six months after I had been converted I felt I 
must preach, and "Woe is me if I preach not the Gospel." 
I could not see my way clear to go to school and my education 
was very limited. I held meetings now and then, and a few 
times I would try and talk from a verse of Scripture. I 
realized I was crude, but God blessed and honored my efforts, 
and I saw some saved. He has said: "A worm shall thrash 
a mountain." 

When I sought the blessing of sanctification the test came 
to me : "Will you preach the Gospel ?" I hesitated and said to 
the Lord: "I cannot preach, I do not know enough," but the 
answer came so clear : "I will be your wisdom." I then said : 
"I am not good enough," and again he answered: "I will be 
your righteousness and sanctification." I then said : "I do 
not know what the outcome will be," and the Voice said: "I 
will be your eternal redemption." "Well," I said, "if you can 
be all of this to me, I can trust myself in your hands, and allow 
you to do as you please with me." From that moment ttoe 
way seemed to open right up for me to go to school. 

My cousin, Pardon M. Stone of Providence, R. L, was an 
active member of the Mathewson M. E. Church, and a trustee 



62 



The; Story of My Lira. 



of the East Greenwich Academy, and when he offered me a 
scholarship to that institution I accepted. 

When I started into school I had but one suit of clothes 
and fifteen dollars in my pocket. Of course I had to buy my 
own books, and was to some expense otherwise, so had but 
little money left. I engaged rooms near the school and 
boarded myself. In a little more than a week I found that 
I had less than a dollar. On Saturday I did up my housework 
and knelt down to pray, without a doubt as to God's ability 
to provide. I just plead the promises of God: "I will supply 
all your needs, according to my riches/' and I told Him that 
MY need was six dollars, and if I did not get it before Monday 
night I would certainly leave the work, and would consider 
that my call to the ministry was cancelled. I told Him that I 
would neither borrow, nor beg, nor hint to any person that I 
needed this money, but that it must come in direct answer to 
my prayer. He has said: "Come boldly," and I did come 
boldly, asking for help. I arose from my knees and went up 
on the hill to visit a family that I had known in Putnam, Conn. 
After we had had a pleasant visit, I started to take leave, Mrs. 
Champlin said to me: "I don't know anything about your 
circumstances, but my husband has sent me some money and 
wanted me to hand you this," and she handed me a bill. I 
placed it in my pocket thanking her, and started out. I then 
went to call on a young man at the academy, and as I was 
going up the second flight of stairs I thought of that bill. 
I took it out of my pocket and found it to be a ten dollar 



My Caij, to the: Ministry. 



63 



bill, and you can imagine I did some shouting and gave praise 
to God for the wonderful answer to prayer. 

The next week I was invited to preach, by William Sher- 
man, the editor of the East Greenwich Pendulum, who was a 
Free Baptist, and run a mission in the town, on Marlboro 
street. We had a few out and they were the very poorest 
of the people in the town, but God gave us marked success 
and great favor with the people ; so much so that there were a 
number who asked for prayers. I was invited to hold meet- 
ings during the week, which I did ; and as I had preached but 
a few times it was very taxing upon me with my work at 
school and the extra work of boarding myself. However, 
God wonderfully helped me. My four studies came easy, and 
my sermons came readily to me ; so for six weeks, every night 
I held services, and God honored our efforts and we saw more 
than sixty conversions in that chapel. 

Among the converts was one Minnie Remington, in whom 
I was very much interested. She was a student at the academy 
and in some of my classes. She was among the very first to 
get saved during the revival and proved to be a good worker. 
One day we missed her from the classes and chapel, and upon 
making inquiries found that she was very sick. I called on 
her and found her full of good cheer and she expressed herself 
as hoping to be able to be with us soon and take her place in 
the school and chapel. I prayed with her and left her. The 
next Sunday I was on exchange with Bro. Wallace of Ap- 
ponaug, and on my return home I was about to leave my horse 
at the stable when I heard a horse running. I turned and the 



64 



The: Story of My Lira. 



driver drove right up to my side and said: "Is your name 
Johnson ?" I said: "It is." He said: "Get right into my 
wagon." I did, and he hurried up the hill. I asked him 
where he was taking me. He said : "I am taking you to the 
bedside of my dying sister, Minnie Remington." I said: "Is 
it possible that Minnie Remington is dying?" He ran the horse 
for two miles, and when we reached the house the mother met 
me at the steps. She said : "Little did I think that you would 
be called here again so soon, and under such sad circum- 
stances." I asked how Minnie was and she said : "The doctors 
have just gone and they say that she cannot possibly live two 
hours." I asked her if they had told her. She said: "No, I 
can't bear to tell her, and we want you to tell her." I went to 
her bedside and after a moment said to her : "Minnie, you are 
very sick." "Yes," she said, "I know I am." "Well," I said, 
"How would you feel if you knew that in the course of two 
weeks you would be with Jesus?" She smiled and said: "It is 
all clear ahead." "Well, how would you feel if it were only 
two days ?" She again said, with radiant face : "It is all clear 
ahead, Bro. Johnson." I finally said: "Minnie, the doctors say 
that you cannot possibly live two hours." She looked at me a 
moment and then said : "Only two hours ? If I have but two 
hours more let me do my last work well. Call to my bedside 
my father, mother, brothers and sisters." (They were all 
unsaved). As that old burly sea captain came and knelt down 
she pleaded with him to give his heart to God. They all 
promised to meet her in Heaven. I said : "Good God, help you 
all to keep this promise to this dying girl." She then looked up 



My Cau, to thk Ministry. 



65 



to me with a smile and said : "Bro. Johnson, if I had neglected 
to have given my heart to God, down there at the chapel, I 
could not do it now." After a few minutes she said, in a loud 
and clear voice : "I am so* happy in Jesus. It is all clear ahead ; 
clear ahead/' and was gone. Thus ended a short, victorious 
life. 

During these meetings we had some very bright conver- 
sions among the boys. I call to mind now two small boys, 
sons of a railroad man, one was six and the other eight, who 
had been happily converted. They attended the meetings 
regularly with their mother, who had recently been converted. 
One day we heard that both of the boys were sick, and in a 
very few hours both died. I was called to attend the funeral 
from the chapel. They were laid side by side in the same 
casket. It was a very impressive service, as well as a sad 
sight. Just before one of them died he called his father to 
his bedside and said: "Papa, I think I am going to die and 
won't you promise me that you will meet me in Heaven?" 
The father broke down and said : "Yes, I will." A very short 
time after their death he fulfilled the promise. The whole 
town seemed to be stirred, and Rev. F. D. Blakesley, principal 
of our school, baptized most of the converts in the Cohasset 
Bay. 

My friends found out that I was boarding myself and so 
would hang baskets on the door knob, filled with good things, 
while I was busy at my recitations, and would put a note on 
the basket reading like this: "Empty and hang out," and I 
would. 



66 The: Story of My Lim. 

About this time I began to realize that my one suit was 
begininng to look shabby, and I soon received a note (anony- 
mous), advising me to call on Mr. Weeks, who was the fash- 
ionable tailor of the town, and get me a suit of clothes. I of 
course thought it a joke put up by some of the students, because 
of my faded suit, so for days I carried that note in my pocket 
and would walk by Mr. Weeks' store, looking in and wonder- 
ing if that note was really good for what it represented. At 
last something seemed to say to me : "Why don't you go in and 
test it?" I said I would and so timidly entered the store and 
presented the note, asking him if he knew anything about it. 
He replied: "I know all about it." "But," I said, "who gave 
this to me?" He said: "That is none of your business. If 
you want a suit of clothes get up on to that measuring block." 
I immediately did as he told me to do, and he measured me. 
He then turned to me and said : "There is the cloth on those 
two long tables, now you pick out just what you want, regard- 
less of quality." I said : "Mr. Weeks, I do not understand the 
quality of cloth enough to be capable of choosing for myself, 
and I am going to ask you to pick out the goods for me." 
"Well," he said, "if you allow me to do it I assure you that 
you will have a good one." As I was about to leave he told 
me to call Thursday night and the suit would be ready to try 
on, and then would have it finished for me for the following 
Sunday. I did, and on Saturday the suit was all done. It 
was a beauty, and you can imagine how, as a poor boy, I felt 
with this suit of clothes, costing fifty dollars, on my back. I 
have never known the giver, but I am sure that God prompted 



My Cau, to the: Ministry. 



67 



some kind-hearted person to bestow it upon me, and have 
always thanked Him for answer to prayer. 

The next term I boarded myself and supplied two Baptist 
churches each Sunday. One at Arlington and the other at 
Narraganset Ferry. The Lord was with us from the first 
and gave us a gracious revival at both churches. The remain- 
ing two years, at East Greenwich I would supply different 
churches on the Sabbath, and in this way paid my expenses. 
At the close of my four years' work I came out of that school 
out of debt and more than one suit of clothes to my back, 
bless the name of the Lord. I spent my vacations working at 
camp meetings and conducting evangelistic services, receiving 
my compensation from the free-will offerings of the people. 

I must mention here that I was helped, the last year that 
I was in school, to meet my financial obligations, by my friend, 
Dea. George M. Morse of Putnam, Conn., and by Bro. John 
Bowen of Warwick, R. L, a good Quaker. 

In November, 1874, I received a Local Preacher's License 
from the Quarterly Conference of Oxford, Mass., Rev. I. B. 
Bigelow, pastor, and Rev. Jefferson Haskell, presiding elder, 
reading as follows : "Ithiel T. Johnson has applied to us for 
liberty to preach in the Methodist Episcopal Church and after 
examination, concerning his gifts and graces and usefulness, 
we judge he is a proper person to license and we accordingly 
authorize him to preach." In 1879 I applied for Deacon's 
Orders at the New England Annual Conference, held at 
Worcester, Mass. The following is copied from one of the 
city papers issued at that time : "The case of Ithiel T. Johnson 



68 



Ths Story of My Life. 



created a long discussion. The committee on examination re- 
ported him defective in education, but many members of the 
conference who have knowledge of his peculiar gifts as a 
preacher desired to waive the question of education. Their 
tribute to his power and spirituality were of the highest; 
among his defenders were Revs. Phineas Crandall, C. N. 
Smith, Wm. McDonald, George Whittaker, W. F. Mallalieu, 
F. T. George, J. O. Knowles, John C. Smith, S. F. Upham, 
Dr. Porter, and Dr. Daniel Steele. The opposition was simply 
on the ground that the established rules imperatively de- 
manded a certain degree of knowledge on the part of the can- 
didates for deacon's orders. He was elected to deacon's 
orders by an emphatic vote," and I was ordained the sixth day 
of April, 1879, by Bishop Matthew Simpson, and it has been 
renewed each year since. 



CHAPTER VII. 
Early Experiences as an Evangelist. 

When about nineteen years of age I began to hold meet- 
ings in school houses, farm kitchens and barns, but had labored 
for the Master, more or less, since I had been converted, and 
when I could find time from my work. I was laboring in the 
shoe shop, trying to get some money to use for my education. 

I connected myself with the Webster, Mass., praying band, 
Hon. C. C. Corbin as leader. They were very successful in 
leading souls to Christ, and it was just the thing for me, en- 
couraging me to pray, speak and to do personal work. 

About this time I was appointed class leader in the church 
by Rev. E. O. Hambleton. At the beginning we had but three 
Christians. I held the meetings Friday evenings. I would 
walk from where I lived, a distance of two miles, and visit 
from house to house, and invite the people to come to meeting, 
and it was not long before a revival broke out and many were 
saved. 

It was my privilege at this time to be thrown in with some 
brethren who were wholly saved, such as: Dana Robinson, 
Rufus Foster, George Keith, B. A. Corbin, Amasy Davis, 
Daniel Pratt, Thomas Talbot, and Bro. Goodell (father of 
Rev. C. Goodell). I had had three years' experience in my 



70 



The: Story of My Li^. 



own church at Oxford, and was so glad to be with these mighty 
men of faith in prayer and works. We did not necessarily 
need to resort to preaching or a lecture on Sunday evenings in 
order to hold the young people, the time would be all taken 
up with testimonies, prayer and singing. Sometimes it would 
seem as if Heaven would give way the power of God was so 
manifested. Scarcely a Sunday but some one would profess 
to be saved. We got so we expected it and looked for it. 

I was soon invited by pastors to hold a meeting here and 
there. I seldom would use a text but would give my ex- 
perience, and trust the Lord and He would honor my efforts. 

The most of my early life as an evangelist was spent in 
New England, and mostly with the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. I shall only be enabled to speak of a few of these 
many places. Among the very first places that I labored was 
at Douglas, Mass., my birthplace. Here God wonderfully 
visited the community, and crowned our feeble efforts with 
great success, although I never took a text to speak from while 
I was there. There were a large number of young men con- 
verted, one of them later entered the Congregationalist 
ministry — Herbert Titus. 

My call to Hubbardston, Mass., was certainly a marvelous 
answer to prayer. My health was impaired and the doctor 
had advised me to give up my work for the winter and to go 
south. My lungs had become weak and I had a severe throat 
trouble. I cancelled all my engagements, and had it pub- 
lished in the Zion's Herald, I then went to my home in Oxford 
for a few days' rest before starting south. While at home, 



Eari v y Experiences as an Evangeust. 



71 



Dr. Jefferson Haskell, my presiding elder, called on me and 
asked me to go to Hubbardston, as they greatly needed what 
labor I could give. I told him of my failing health, and what 
I had planned to do, and he went away, with no idea that I 
would go. Soon I was crossing the lot near my home and I 
was in a spirit of prayer. I wanted to do as the Lord wanted 
me to do. It seemed that I heard a voice within me, saying: 
"He that is able to save your soul is able also to* heal your 
body." I said : "Yes, Lord, and I do not believe that my work 
on earth is done yet, and I take Thee to be my Healer." Then 
the Voice said : "I want you to go Hubbardston." I said : "All 
right, Lord, I will go trusting You." Then something seemed 
to say, "Go back to the druggists and get a fly blister and put 
it over the sore place on the lung." I went back and got it. 
When I reached my home I said to my mother : "I want you to 
get my things ready at once for I am going to Hubbardston 
to hold a series of meetings." She put up a protest, but I 
assured her that I believed that God had healed me, and I 
started. 

I reached Hubbardston that evening about half past seven. 
Went at once to the parsonage and rapped. Sister Woodbury, 
the pastor's wife, answered the call. I had never met her or 
her husband, but as quick as she saw me she said : "This is 
Bro. Johnson?" I said: "Yes." She said: "Sister Nichols 
was here this morning and said that you were coming and that 
she had had the assurance. I told her what I had seen pub- 
lished in Zion's Herald, with reference to your health, and 
your purpose to go south, and she said that she did not care 



72 



The: Story of My Lik. 



what Zion's Herald said, that she had heard from Heaven, that 
morning while praying, and that you were coming to help us." 

Up to this time the meetings had been running for about 
two weeks without any visible results, and at that very hour 
there was a meeting being held by the pastor at the church. 
I told Sister Woodbury that I guessed I would go right over to 
the church. I did, and introduced myself to the people and 
spoke that evening. There seemed to be deep conviction on 
the people. Before going out to church I had put the fly 
blister on, and when I got warmed up preaching the blister 
began to work and when I got home it had made a raw sore 
about as large as a small saucer. I took the blister off and 
took care of the place and never heard of weak lungs since, 
Glory be to the Christ that healeth all our diseases. 

I labored with this people two weeks and a half, and dur- 
ing that time we saw over seventy conversions, a most marvel- 
ous work of grace. Many of them were from the best families 
in the community, and some of them are the burden-bearers in 
the church today. One man who was thoroughly converted 
was a Mr. Parsons, to whom I refer in Chapter IX, on 
"Miracles of Grace." 

I was soon called to a small church in Templeton, Mass. 
There were a faithful few here who were yearning for a work 
of grace, and God answered their earnest petition. I preached 
every night and held four afternoon services each week for 
three weeks. A number in the church entered into the bless- 
ing of full salvation. There were some marked cases of con- 
version. I remember the blacksmith in the town, a wicked 



Earut Experiences as an Evangeust. 73 



man, and who seemed to have a great influence, was gloriously 
saved. A number of young men who were working in the 
chair shop were converted, and one of them, L. W. Adams, 
is now preaching the Gospel, and a member of the New 
England Conference. To God be all the praise for this 
marvelous work. 

I soon was called to hold a series of meetings in Gardner 
by Rev. S. C. Cary. We had a grand meeting and many were 
saved and sanctified, and the work largely remains to this 
day. 

I was invited to Worcester by the official board of the 
Trinity M. E. Church. Rev. John Cass was the pastor. We 
pushed the battle for five weeks and they estimated that there 
were over four hundred conversions. It has been said by 
some that Worcester never had such an awakening, and espe- 
cially among the young men, as a great number of them were 
saved. It was during this revival that the burglar was so 
marvelously converted, to whom reference is made in Chapter 
IX, on "Miracles of Grace." One night Hon. A. B. Kinney, 
a banker, and his good wife, came and sought the Lord and 
received Him with the same humility of spirit as the poorest. 
The lord has richly blessed him and he has been instrumental 
in building up the church of Christ in that city with his money 
and using his influence in the right direction. The church has 
honored him by twice electing him delegate to the General 
Conference of the church. They have both recently died. 

I labored with the Worthen St. M. E. Church, in Lowell, 
Mars., Rev. N. T. Whittaker, pastor. This certainly proved 



7i The: Story of My Life. 

to be a marvelous meeting. The board only engaged me for 
ten days, and as I had a call to the Willett St. Church in New 
York City, I closed with the Lowell church at the end of ten 
days and went there, feeling I ought not to close, as the altar 
was filled with seekers nearly every night. I wanted to go 
to New York, and so against my convictions I went, all the 
time feeling that I was a Jonah. I labored hard for ten days 
with few results — the most important of which was the con- 
version of the tramp referred to in Chapter IX. I finally 
telegraphed to Dr. Whittaker that if he would receive me 
back to Lowell I w r ould return. I received a reply saying: 
"Come on." I went and found the meetings still in progress, 
and continued the meetings four weeks longer, and the pastor 
said that there had been over six hundred conversions. A 
number of them are now the leading business men of the city 
and the spiritual and financial backbone of the church. 

I enjoyed my labors with Dr. Whittaker very much, and 
have had the privilege of laboring with him twice since; once 
at the Chestnut St. Church in Portland, Me., and the Central 
M. E. Church, Lowell, Mass. One young man converted at 
Portland entered the ministry and is now preaching in the 
Maine Conference — Rev. C. C. Phelan. 

I labored at the Union Square Church in Somerville, Rev. 
George Whittaker, pastor. This, in many respects, was one 
of the best services in my ministry. There were a large num- 
ber of young men saved, and have become useful men in the 
different departments of the church of God. 



Early Experiences as an Evangeust. 75 



From Somerville I went to labor with Dr. Daniel Steele 
at the Lafayette Street Church in the city of Salem. I found 
this people very conservative at the first, but they readily fell 
in with my methods and we began at once to see visible results 
in the conversion of some of the captains and seamen from 
the oyster vessels that were in the harbor, besides many others 
from the city. 

I found Dr. Steele, and his now sainted wife, to be of 
great help to me, personally, with their vast knowledge of 
books and their deep consecration to God. Oh, that we had 
more of such representatives of the Kingdom of Heaven here 
on earth. 

One of my most important fields was at Bristol, R. I., 
with Rev. W. V. Morrison. Here this old historic church 
was packed, galleries and all, for five weeks, and hundreds 
were converted to God. Out of this number there came one 
young man who entered the ministry and afterwards became 
the principal of East Greenwich Academy, the Rev. Lyman 
Horton. 

Grace Church, Taunton, Mass., proved to be a green spot 
in my evangelistic labors. My services were secured for this 
people by the Hon. William H. Phillips, now gone to his 
reward. Here the interest was such that I would begin to 
preach in the auditorium without any preliminaries, except 
prayer, and when we would get the seekers to the altar I 
would go at once to the lecture room and preach another 
sermon, while the pastor, Bro. Carroll, would conduct the 
altar service above. This strenuous work continued for about 



76 



The Story of My Life. 



two weeks, during which time scores w T ere happily converted 
to God. 

While I was a student at East Greenwich I held a series 
of meeting with the Evangelical Church in North Attleboro. 
I found the people in a very low spiritual condition and with- 
out a pastor, he having become discouraged and left. I found 
here the faithful few, as w T e always do, who stand by the work 
and have the burdens on their hearts for the welfare of the 
town, and the salvation of souls. I was invited here by the 
pulpit supply, whose chairman was Jason F. Guild, a man 
who walked and talked with God. I began my labors about 
the first of June, and the first Sunday we had a few seekers 
for pardon. The next Sabbath we had a large congregation 
and more seekers, and they asked me to continue the meetings 
during the week. I did, traveling sixty miles a day to attend 
to my work at school, until the end of the school year. Then 
I continued to press the battle, every night until the last of 
July. Sometimes the heat was excessive, once I remember it 
was one hundred and two in the shade. However we had 
one of the most successful meetings of my ministry. 

I was not ordained at this time, and so we called upon 
Dr. Blakesley, the principal of our school, and Rev. D. J. 
Griffin to baptize the converts, which numbered between ninety 
and a hundred. There were over forty young men saved, and 
from this work a number of missionaries : Rev. Fred Dunnell 
and wife, and Miss Nellie Guild, who labored so faithfully in 
the Barbadoes; also Miss EflSe Holmes, who gave her life 



Miss Effie Holmes. 



Early Experiences as an Evangelist. 77 

for India; also Rev. Harry Clampett and wife who became 
members of the M. E. Conference in Dakota. 

After I left here the Rev. J. A. Wood of Baltimore, was 
called as the pastor of this church, and he said that in all the 
churches he had labored and served he had never found a 
stronger set of young men for real spiritual work than he found 
here. We had taught them that they could be saved from 
their actual transgressions, and that it was their privilege to 
be cleansed from all unrighteousness, and that this work was 
to be wrought subsequent to their regeneration, and scores of 
them made their consecration and entered into the experience 
of perfect love. Many of them today remain on earth to 
testify that there is power in the blood to cleanse. This same 
people have recently united themselves with the M. E. Church, 
and the officials and the spiritual workers were largely brought 
out in those meetings. 

At South Manchester, Conn., I held meetings with Rev. 
Eben Terrill. We had a great spiritual refreshing from the 
Lord. My congregation was made up largely from the em- 
ployees of the Cheeney Silk Works and the Case Bros.' paper 
mills. These people seemed hungry for salvation, and the 
result of that four weeks' labor was the addition of scores of 
precious ones to the church. The work still speaks for itself 
as a remnant is still there, among them being the Case brothers 
and their children, who are a great help to the church. 

Shortly after the meetings had closed at South Man- 
chester, the death reaper entered their midst and took from 



78 



The Story of My Life. 



them Bro. Delbert Tracy, Charles Ferris and Oscar Hagger- 
noll, all young men and they all died in the triumphs of faith. 

I labored at Westfield, Mass., with Rev. Charles Davis, 
and we had a mighty wave of salvation sweep over the place. 
I took into the church, on probation, thirty-five or forty 
people that were of the best material for a spiritual working 
church. Many of them have become real personal workers in 
the different departments of the church. Bro. Robert Tucker 
is now studying in Wesleyan, preparing for the ministry. 

While at Niantic, Conn., I labored with Rev. Eben Terrill 
again and had an experience that I had never had before — 
that of laboring among the Swedes. One night about forty, 
who had recently come from their native land came, and as I 
did not understand their language, I spoke through an inter- 
preter. In the midst of the preaching they began to weep, 
and at the close of the sermon, with great emotion, a large 
proportion of them came and knelt at the altar. I could not 
instruct them so they could understand, I told the interpreter 
to tell them to pray. He Said: "They cannot pray in your 
language as they do not understand it." I said: "Tell them 
to pray in their own language." He told them and they did, 
and of all the jargon noises I ever heard in my life at a prayer 
altar service I heard then. However, they soon leaped to their 
feet, clapping their hands, and with shining faces gave testi- 
mony, in their own language, to the saving grace of God. We 
were convinced at that service that it made no difference to 
the Lord in what language we approached Him if the heart 
was only right. There was a large number of Americans 



Early Experiences as an Evangelist. 79 

saved that night also. Praise the Lord forever for His won- 
derful working power. 

I want to speak of our sojourn with the M. E. Church at 
Westerly, R. I. We were invited here by the pastor, Rev. 
J. C. Docking, to hold a series of meetings. After giving him 
a date we were called to pass through a deep affliction and 
Bro. Docking wrote us to put off the meeting for a week, which 
we did. While holding meetings at New Haven, Conn., our 
oldest child, Wesley, sickened and died, and my father died 
at the same time and we buried them the same day from the 
old home church at Oxford, Mass., and laid the precious 
bodies away in the cemetery there to await the judgment 
morning, when we shall know as we are known. 

"Jesus knows when the billows break at your very feet ; 
Jesus knows when the furnace glows red with the testing 
heat; 

Knows when the flames are hottest, knows all your falling 
tears, 

Knows when His own fair likeness in the pure gold 

appears. 
Jesus knows and cares, 
Precious thought with comfort fraught, 
Jesus knows and cares. " 

It was with heavy, sorrowful hearts that we commenced 
our labors with the Westerly people. Sometimes it would 
seem as if our light had almost gone out and then we would 
find God's grace sufficient, as He has promised. 



80 



The Story of My Life. 



"Isn't it true, believer? 
Isn't it really true? 
In the hour of temptation, 
Hasn't He helped you through? 
In your sorrows and trials, 
When the night seemed long, 
Hasn't the Saviour been near you ? 
Filling your heart with song?" 

We had very interesting meetings from the beginning, 
although the weather was threatening. Every evening we 
were greeted with large attentive audiences and seekers at 
each meeting. How the Lord blessed the seekers and also 
gave fresh manna from His bountiful supply. One day Bro. 
Docking told me of an English family that he was very much 
interested in and wanted to win to Christ. He suggested that I 
go with him and call on them that afternoon as they worked 
in the stone quarry and the snow was so deep they could not 
work and we would in all probability catch them at home. He 
said that we would have to work sharp, for if they should see 
us coming they would get out of the way and we would not 
be able to see them. I told him to lead the way and I would 
follow. So we plowed our way through the snow to the street 
on which they lived and he said we would act as if we were 
going by the house and just as we got opposite we would 
turn quickly and run right up to the house. We did so and 
as we reached the door we heard a commotion inside as chairs 
were upturned and the scudding of feet. We rapped and 
in a minute the mother came to the door and invited us in. 
As we entered the living room we could see signs of the hur- 



Early Exp^ri^ncks as an Evangelist. 81 

ried exit : a disordered room and a few playing cards strewn 
about. Bro. Docking said: "We thought we would come up 
and see the boys for we knew they would not be at work 
today, but I see they are not here/' The mother blushed and 
seemed at a loss as what to say. A small boy, standing by 
her side, and hanging on to her dress said : "Johnnie is under 
the bed." I glanced in the direction the boy was looking and 
could see a pair of boots protruding from under the bed and 
said : "John, come on out, we will not hurt you." There came 
crawling out a young man of about twenty-two, almost six 
feet tall, and about as ashamed as you can imagine. We 
talked, prayed and made ourselves agreeable with them and 
urged them to come to the meetings. They came and some of 
them got saved and often laughed how hard they were work- 
ing to avoid the preachers, who were only after them to do 
them good. 

I held meetings in four different churches in Fall River, 
Mass., in the North Main Street M. E. Church with Rev. 
Eben Terrill, pastor; First M. E. Church with Rev. W. J. 
Yates, pastor; the Federal Street M. E. Church, Rev. W. D. 
Dyson, pastor, and also with the Quakers. Each time the 
work seemed thorough and many were saved. One instance 
that happened while laboring in the Federal Street Church 
I want to relate. We had a wonderful meeting and one 
night, after preaching on "bring forth fruit meet for repen- 
tance," the leader of the choir, the father of a family, rose 
from his seat in the choir, facing the whole congregation, 
said : "I have been a member of the church for years but have 



82 



The Story of My Life. 



not been right with God. Years ago my neighbor's cow got 
into my corn, and had a long new rope attached to her halter. 
I was provoked when I saw the cow there, so I took the rope 
off and hung it up in my shed. I took the cow home but 
never mentioned about the rope. My neighbor said that she 
had a rope on and began to look for it and I went with him, 
feigning to hunt for it. I lost my salvation and my peace of 
mind, of course. My children knew that I had that rope and 
how I came by it and of course had no confidence in my salva- 
tion. I never used the rope. I did not dare to and every time 
I saw it I would think of how I stole it. I want to get right 
with God and if Christ will forgive me I promise Him, before 
you all, that I will return the rope tomorrow." It was a terri- 
ble confession and when he came to the altar and knelt there 
was a holy hush over the church. He received pardon and 
the next morning, we saw him passing the parsonage with 
the rope on his arm, on his way to return it. He said God 
just seemed to open the Heavens and gave him a great bless- 
ing. In just a few nights his wife and daughters were 
soundly converted to God. Did it pay to be honest with God ? 

At Newport, R. I., I held a series of meetings with the 
Young Men's Christian Association, and in a very few nights 
we were crowded out of the hall and had to hunt up a larger 
place. The officials were enabled to hire an abandoned Uni- 
tarian Church, but that proved to be too small in a few nights, 
and we adjourned to the Friends' Church. We had a sweep- 
ing victory. Many of the young men from the city were 



Early Experiences as an Evangeust. 83 



saved, and some of the soldiers from Fort Adams came to the 
meetings and were soundly converted. 

I held a series of meetings at Heath, Mass., in the Meth- 
odist Church, with Rev. W. E. Dwight as pastor. I consider 
this meeting as one of the most fruitful of all my ministry. 
I did not know exactly where the place was but had been told 
to get off the cars at Shelburne Falls and take the stage to 
Heath. When I got off the cars and inquired my way I found 
that Heath was eight miles up the mountain and I must reach 
it by stage. I found after talking with the stage man that he 
was a grouty fellow and wanted to be left alone. It was a 
perfect autumn day and I was sure I should enjoy the trip. 
I mounted the box beside the driver and tried to make talk 
with him and then I would get off and walk ahead and pick 
up chestnuts and sing until he would catch up with me and 
then I would mount and ride a while. That beautiful hymn, 
"O, Bliss of the Purified, Bliss of the Free," had just come 
out about that time and I would sing it to him, keeping him 
in hot water all the time while climbing the mountain. When 
we reached the top I said to him : " What place is this ?" He 
replied: "This is Heath." I said: "So this is Heath? What 
church is that over there?" (pointing to a large church). He 
replied that it was the Congregationalist. I then noticed 
another one and asked him what that one was and he replied 
that it was the Baptist. I said : "What is that little one down 
there?" He said it was the Methodist. I asked him where 
the people came from to attend all these churches. He re- 
plied, "From all around." I thought so for I could only see 



84 



The Story of My Life. 



six houses in sight. I went to the parsonage and rapped. The 
pastor opened the door and said : "Bro. Johnson, I am glad to 
see you, but this is the toughest place you ever struck," and 
asked me in. I said : "Well, let us pray.'' He was a young 
preacher and had been sent up there by the Conference. He 
was a graduate of Wesleyan and Boston University; had 
married and both were about discouraged. When we rose 
from our knees, he said : "I have written the Presiding Elder 
that he must take me away from here for the people are poor 
and are behind on my salary and I am afraid we shall starve 
to death." I said: "Let us pray/" and we knelt again. As 
soon as we got up he said : "I am glad you have got here, but 
I do not think you will get money enough to get away from 
here." I said : "Well, we will thank God I have got here, let 
us pray," we did. I had not yet taken my overcoat off. I 
said: "'What about the meetings?" He told me that he had 
appointed a meeting at the church at 10.30 a. m., and at 2.30 
we were to have a union meeting in the Congregationalist 
Church of all three churches, and in the evening I was to 
speak in a school house, six miles to the north at Whitingham, 
Vermont, just over the line. We soon retired and in the morn- 
ing woke up to witness a beautiful day. We had a good morn- 
ing service. There were not many there but God was there 
to hear and answer prayer. We had three present: old Father 
Tanner, the pastor, and myself. I shall never forget that old 
saint, Bro. Tanner. How he did pray for a work of grace in 
that place and told the Lord that he was believing for it. We 
prayed around three times before we all could step on the 



Earut Exp£rie;nc£s as an Evangelist. 85 

promise of God, where it says: "That if two of you shall 
agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it 
shall be done for them of my Father which is in Heaven. " 
Matt. 18: 19. We had about twenty-five out to the union 
service and I told the people that we were going to see souls 
saved that week, and bless God we did. At the close of the 
service a sister came to me and said: "Bro. Johnson, you 
have come the wrong time of year. I believe if you had 
delayed your coming here two weeks it would have been 
better." On asking her why she said : "The young people are 
all taken up with a dancing school. They meet twice a week 
and are to have a blow-out ball next week and so will not attend 
the meetings. " I told her to get down before God and pray 
for them and we would see wonders wrought before the end 
of the week. We had a number saved that week and in the 
next ten days there were over sixty clean conversions, and 
many of them the heads of families. The dancing school was 
completely broken up, as the most of them had been saved. 
Among the first that were saved was the disgruntled stage 
driver. He was the one that was going to get up the supper 
for the ball. It was a great work for which we can praise 
God. I did not have to walk out of town, nor neither did I 
go out with an empty purse. That people were saved and 
their pocket books dedicated to God. They took care of their 
pastor and his homesick wife handsomely. To this day some 
of the leading members were saved in that revival. 

I was holding meetings in the Trinity M. E. Church, Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio, with Dr. Joyce (who was afterward elected 



86 



The: Story otf My Lira. 



Bishop of our church), when the big flood struck us. The 
water of the river rose so fast that we were obliged to close 
the meetings, which had only been running two Weeks. One 
day Dr. Joyce and I stood on the bridge, over the river, and 
saw twenty-five houses or more go down stream. The life- 
savers from the lakes were there rescuing the people from off 
the wrecks. It was a sight I will never forget. We were 
completely shut off from the outside world. The work at the 
church had been going deep. In one of the afternoon Bible 
readings Dr. Joyce presented himself at the altar as a seeker 
of heart purity and got wholly sanctified. When he received 
the witness to heart cleansing he must have leaped as much as 
two feet into the air and shouted: "I have got it. Glory to 
God." He told me afterwards that he had been prejudiced 
against the doctrine by some of its professors. Although we 
cannot understand all the "whys" here, we know that God 
plans the way and that sometime we will understand. We did 
not continue the meetings as the lights were put out all over 
the city by the high water. 

"So on I go not knowing, 

I would not if I might ; 
I'd rather walk in the dark with God 

Than go alone in the light ; 
I'd rather walk by faith with Him 

Than go alone by sight." 

I was invited to hold a series of meetings in the Ross 
Street M. E. Church, Wilkesboro, Penn., by the pastor, Rev. 
G, W. Miller. We were forced to seek larger quarters in a 



Eari,y Experiences as an Evangelist. 87 



very short time the church became so crowded. The officials 
hired the Metropolitan Rink, which would seat twenty-five 
hundred people. We held meetings here for five weeks with 
the old rink packed to' the doors. There were over four hun- 
dred conversions, many of them miners and their families. It 
shook the whole city and when I was there in the spring of 
1912 was told that the fruits of that meeting remained in that 
church yet. One remarkable instance I want to repeat was as 
follows : A woman came to the altar as a seeker but for some 
reason failed to get peace of mind and would go from the altar 
night after night dissatisfied. We became interested in her, 
she seemed such an honest seeker. One night I ventured to 
ask her what seemed to be standing in the way of her receiv- 
ing pardon, and this was her story : "Bra. Johnson, I married a 
poor miner years ago and God gave us children, but I became 
enamored after a wealthy miner's son, I secured a divorce from 
my husband and married him. I cannot receive Christ with 
this before me, and what shall I do ?" I advised her to tell the 
man with whom she was living that she could not live with him 
as his lawful wife and be a Christian, and that she must go 
back to her lawful husband and children. She did as I advised 
her. She left the house of plenty, went back to her husband, 
who had lived a chaste life, and begged him to take her back. 
He opened his heart and arms and restored her to her place. 
Of course light came to her darkened soul. "She that is for- 
given much loveth much." 

I was helping Bro. G. M. Morse at Putnam, Conn., and 
one day after having a season of prayer together, we claimed 



88 



The Story of My Life. 



a soul before the close of that day. We went to meeting that 
night, and I told the people that we expected that some one 
would get saved that night. We went through the entire meet- 
ing and not one asked prayers. It seemed as if all the powers 
of hell were brought to bear against us. Just at this point 
Bro. Morse sprang to his feet and cried out : "Hold on to God. 
Hold on to God." It seemed to give us a new lease of life. 
I dismissed the meeting, inviting all that could stay and wait 
on the Lord, to do so. Just a few remained and we went to 
our knees. We had been praying about a half an hour when 
we heard footsteps on the stairs, the door opened and in walked 
a man about sixty years of age by the name of Buck, who 
lived about a mile from the hall. He said, as he came in : "I 
want you to pray for me. I was getting ready for bed when 
I felt I was a lost man. I could not get away from it and 
something seemed to tell me to come down here and ask you 
people to pray for me. Immediately another voice seemed to 
tell me that it would be to late for the meeting would be closed 
and that I could not get saved tonight. I said : 'I will go' and 
got dressed and here I am." Of course he got saved and we 
thanked God for such a direct answer to prayer, after such a 
test of our faith. 

When I held meetings at Byfield, Mass., I called several 
times on an aged couple, he ninety-two and his wife ninety-one 
years of age. They were both without Christ. I invited them 
to attend our meetings, but neither seemed concerned about 
their soul. I had a number of plain talks with them, but each 
time they would seem so unconcerned. It seemed strange to 



Early Experiences as an Evangeust. 89 

me to see such aged people with no concern of the future. 
One day he told me that he could not become a Christian, there 
were so many things to give up, and then he related some. I 
tried to< tell him that they were as mole hills compared to the 
reward. He soon saw it and finally said : "Bro. Johnson, I am 
afraid I shall not hold out if I make a start." I told him that 
he would not have long to hold out for they both would be in 
eternity very soon. After a while he and his wife bowed 
the knee, with me, and gave themselves to- Jesus, and I trust 
received pardon. What a waste of years, outside of the service 
of Christ. Jesus said : "Now is the accepted time, now is the 
day of salvation." 



CHAPTER VIII. 
Extensive; Evangelistic Tours. 

One of my earliest trips was to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. 
This meeting was held under a tent, which I had taken with 
me from Douglas, Mass., and would seat about fifteen hun- 
dred people. We met with great opposition here from some of 
the churches, because of the preaching of the doctrine of 
Scriptural Holiness. I think that the opposition came largely 
from the fact that the people did not understand what the doc- 
trine and experience were, also that it had been presented to 
them in such an unwise way. The meeting was held for weeks 
and there were grand results in the conversion of sinners and 
the sanctification of believers. I shall never forget my visit to 
Yarmouth, it was one of the green spots in my life. 

Later on we had another great meeting at Woodstock, 
New Brunswick. This meeting was held in a rink which 
would seat at least twenty-five hundred people. It was crowded 
three times a day, and scores were saved and sanctified. 

In the year 1895 and '96 I went to Los Angeles, Cal., ac- 
companied by my wife, as singer. Our first meeting was at 
East Los Angeles, with the Rev. W. M. Sterling. The Lord 
blessed our labors abundantly and gave us a most marvelous 



92 



The Story of My Life:. 



meeting. I had been recommended and endorsed by Rev. 
J. A. Wood of Pasadena, and as he was well-known on the 
coast the doors for evangelistic work were opened for me in 
many places. I went from this church to Boyle Heights 
M. E. Church, with Bro. E. S. Chase, as pastor. Here we 
had a deep thorough work. There were many that brought 
forth fruit meet for repentance. One man told me that after 
I had preached a sermon on: "Sirs, what must I do to be 
saved," dwelling on restitution as one of the things to do to be 
saved, that it had cost him thousands of dollars, as he had been 
sending back checks to the east to the creditors that he had 
defrauded. We have found out that salvation makes crooked 
things straight and when we are willing to do these things that 
seem so hard, and cost so much, that the blessing that comes 
with them more than pays for the humiliation. 

Our next place was at Ontario. This is one of the most 
beautiful towns of southern California. Their main street is 
200 feet wide and has four rows of trees. It runs from the 
valley to the mountains, a distance of five miles or more, and 
bordered on either side with immense orange ranches. They 
did not have electric cars here at this time, and we were very 
much interested in the mules that were used to haul the cars 
up the mountain, and of their own accord, when the car would 
stop and the driver would unhitch them, would walk deliberately 
around to the front of the car and mount a platform made for 
them and stand there and enjoy their ride down the mountain, 
as they were not needed to draw the car down. Ontario is the 
seat of the Chaffee University, and of course this adds to the 



Extensive Evangelistic Tours. 



93 



dignity of the town. We were invited here by the pastor, Bro. 
Healey, to hold meetings in the M. E. Church. Our congre- 
gation was made up of a number of wealthy Canadians who 
had settled here. From the first meeting we had a very good 
attendance. I held meetings every evening, except Saturday, 
and four afternoons in the week I gave Bible readings. These 
readings were especially helpful to the members of the church, 
who turned out in goodly numbers. There was one lady who 
came often, a tourist, and became very much interested, and 
soon a seeker for heart holiness. She came forward but after 
praying a while she went away without the witness. In the 
evening she was there again and the auditorium was full, and 
she came pretty well up front. She listened to the preaching 
with such a hunger in her eyes. After the sermon I spoke a 
few minutes on Perfect Love, and then threw the meeting open 
for testimony, when this lady rose and began to tell what she 
wanted and God at once began to bless her, she could not talk 
for a minute she was so full of the love of God. In a minute 
she began to turn round and round, and to take deep breaths, 
and to say: "I feel, I feel," and then would turn again and it 
seemed as if she was swelling at every deep breath, and again 
said: "I feel, I feel Jesus saves me fully," by jerks. As she 

turned she caught sight of Sister , a Godly woman, a 

Swede, sitting near her and reached for her hand, and as she 
did so the sister seemed to- feel the glory and she just put her 
head back and in a shrill voice, almost like a whistle, shouted : 
"Glory to God." Some of the members and others were greatly 
disturbed, and we could see their heads drop down one after 



94 



The: Story off My Lire. 



the other, as if they were ashamed to be there. But God 
honored that shout of that little woman, and the power of con- 
viction fell on the people. Without any invitation, as we sang, 
weeping penitents from all over the house came to the altar. 
Within the next few days we saw all the senior members, but 
three, of that college saved, and many from the lower classes, 
and a large number from the town. To God be all the glory 
for this deep work. 

From Los Angeles I went to Peru to labor with Bro. 
Nelson, the pastor. We were some acquainted with Bro. 
Leslie F. Gay, who was .manager of D. C. Cook's ranch, of 
about 14,000 acres. It seems as if Mr. Cook needs no intro- 
duction to anyone, he being such a well-known publisher in 
Chicago. We enjoyed our sojourn here. We visited the 
entire length of the ranch, taking dinner with some of the men 
at the different houses. The February rains were on while we 
were here, and we were very much interested in watching 
the river rise and to see the men ford the stream on horseback 
to take care of things. Nearby this ranch is the ranch where 
Helen H. Jackson visited when she wrote that famous book 
of fiction "Ramona." We passed a day there and saw the 
crosses along the mountain side as reminders to the old 
Spaniards to pray. 

Here we found a small church, and a very needy people. 
God graciously helped us here and many were added to the 
Kingdom of Christ, I trust. 

We were next called to Ventura, a beautiful seaport town. 
We were here when the flowers were at their height. I never 



Extensive Evangelistic Tours. 95 



saw so many calla lillies at one time in my life as we saw here. 
There were acres and acres of them. I was invited here by 
Bro. A. A. Graves, a minister that had known me when he 
lived in New England. The meetings were very successful 
and many were saved and sanctified. One day Bro. Graves 
asked me if I had ever read the life of Charles Finney, Presi- 
dent of Oberlin College. I told him I had. He said : "The 
son of Charles Finney is a lawyer, and is living on the out- 
skirts of this town, on an English walnut ranch, and is not a 
Christian, and I would like to have you call on him." We de- 
cided to call the next day and did. He received us very kindly. 
I told him I had called on him because of the love I had for 
his father's writings and for the good that they had done me, 
and that I wanted, if possible, to say some word that would 
benefit his wayward son. He asked me if I had ever read in 
his father's life about the deacon that travelled with him during 
his evangelistic tours. I said : "Yes." "Well," he said, 
"Father and the deacon were off in the work when I was born, 
and when they came home (so I am informed), the deacon 
came into the room and placing his hand upon my head, said : 
'This is a proper child for eternal salvation.' " He rested 
his soul's salvation upon that expression that came from the 
lips of that deacon, who was a Calvinist and believed in elec- 
tion and reprobation. We were unable to do the son of that 
Godly man any good. He was very anxious to have us call 
again and we told him we would, but the day we planned to 
go he sent his daughter to tell us that he was sick and could 



96 



The Story off My Lira. 



not see us. Later we called upon him and the family seemed 
very glad to see us but he refused to see us. 

After holding a series of meetings with Rev. J. C. Gowan 
at North Pasadena, we were called to Fresno by the pastor, 
Rev. D. J. Gillan. This is a city of about 11,000 inhabitants. 
Here all nationalities are represented, and although I found 
many good people and made many friends, I must confess that 
it was one of the hardest places in my ministry. Here I had 
one of the most severe testings that I ever was put to, and only 
the Judgment of the Great and Righteous God will make 
wrongs right. I am willing to wait for judgment at His 
coming. We were here about three weeks and I believe that 
God was about to bare His arm and give us many precious 
souls for our hire and the reward of much praying of some of 
His faithful servants, when Satan appeared, hoofs, horns, and 
all, and the meetings closed. The altars were rilled every 
night and the pastor said that there had been more than sixty 
saved. 

We held meetings at San Pedro, in the Methodist Church, 
with Rev. H. Cumming, pastor. This town is beautifully 
situated on a handsome bay, with mountains as its background 
and an attractive sandy beach. The town is actually built 
between two hills, and has about fifteen hundred inhabitants. 
We never lacked for something here to take up our attention. 
We visited the sardine canning factory, said to be the largest 
in the world, competing with France. One day we had a very 
pleasant outing with the pastor and his wife. We took our 
dinners and ate down on the beach and later Mr. Cumming 



Extensive Evangelistic Tours. 97 



and I hunted and dug the abalone. Its shell is lined with 
mother of pearl and used for ornamental purposes. Large 
species are found on the coast of California, clinging closely to 
the rocks. It was very exciting for as soon as you touch them 
they suck up to the rock so tight that it is impossible to get 
them off without smashing the shell. The shell, when polished, 
is very handsome and much sought after by tourists. Another 
day we had a severe sandstorm. It was not a new thing to 
this people, but it was to us. At first it looked like an im- 
mense yellow cloud and came speeding toward us with a 
terrible wind. Before we could realize what it was like it 
was upon us, and after it was gone everything in the house 
was covered with fine sand. It would sift in through the 
smallest crevices. 

Our meetings were well attended and much good was 
accomplished. One night a very wealthy Spaniard, Mr. 
Sapulvadi, was converted through and through. He had been 
a Catholic but came out very clear in the Christian life and 
took a firm stand for Christ. One day he invited us over to 
his home to spend the day and we certainly had a delightful 
time and visit. After dinner he took us out to one of his hill 
pastures to show us his sheep. It was a never-to-be-forgotten 
sight. There were hundreds and hundreds of them grazing 
on the hillsides and shepherds caring for them. We were all 
carried away with them. He said to my wife, "Stand up 
there and call to them and see them lift their heads." She 
did, but they never noticed her any more than if they had been 
deaf. I tried it and called and called but not one deigned to 



98 Thd Story of My Life;. 

even lift its head. Mr. Sapulvadi then spoke to one of the 
shepherds and told him to speak to them. He did and the 
minute they heard his voice every head came up as one and 
started toward him. It brought to our minds Christ's saying : 
"My sheep know my voice." 

"My sheep know my voice, and the path that I take, 
They follow wherever I go; 
My sheep know my voice, and come at my call, 
But a stranger's voice do they not know. 

"My sheep know my voice, and pastures of green 
Where I lead them so often to feed ; 
My sheep know my voice and the cool sparkling stream, 
Where beside its still waters I lead. 

"My sheep know my voice and the valley of death 
Through which I shall lead them some day; 
But no danger nor harm can touch one of them, 
For I will be with them alway. 

"My sheep know my voice, and day by day, 

They abide in the fold and go not astray, 
They love me because I have made them my choice, 

And they follow my call, for my sheep know my 
voice." 

In this beautiful land of flowers they have the curse of 
rum: and the rum shop is on every hand. How often we 
were led to say: "There will come a day when sin will be 
abolished from the face of this earth, and homes will be free 
from this curse." At San Pedro there were about thirty 
saloons and they had open bar on Sunday. We used to make 



Extensive Evangelistic Tours. 



99 



up a company of about twenty volunteers, go down along the 
water front, stand before the saloons and hold an open-air 
meeting. Of course the most of the saloon keepers objected, 
but the men would come out from the saloons and gather 
around us, won by the singing, and then we would pitch in, 
one after the other, and give them the Gospel, and trusted God 
to sow the seed. We enjoyed this very much, and now and 
then we were made glad, in our hearts, to see a man with tears 
in his eyes, come forward, or ask prayers. It would pay us 
for all the labor given. It matters but little how a man gets 
saved if he only gets saved and saved good. Sometimes they 
are won by a song, or a hymn, or a prayer, or an eloquent 
preacher, or just by some illiterate body who walks and talks 
with God. I remember of calling upon a man once, who had 
made his boast that he had no respect for a minister, and 
had no use for the church. He said to me: "If God sent 
His Son, as He says He did, to save me let Him do it, and so 
fulfil His mission." I said: "Friend, supposing there was a 
lake out here in front of your house and you should happen 
to look out of the window and saw a man in a boat out there 
floating round and in a few minutes you should look out 
again and you should see that his boat had capsized and he 
was struggling in the water, you would go out at once and 
try to save him, wouldn't you?" "Certainly." "Well, sup- 
posing that when you came up to him and held out the oar 
to him, telling him to grasp it and that you would save him, 
and he should fold his arms and say, 'Didn't you purpose to 
save me when you left your house?' 'Yes.' 'Well, save me 



100 



The) Story of My Lira. 



then/ What would you do?" He answered, "I would let the 
fool go under." "Ah, certainly. Well, supposing he should 
say, T do not like the color of the boat you have come to save 
me in/ what would you do ?" "Let him go under," he said. 
"Well," I said, "Through the fall of Adam the whole human 
race became tainted with sin and God sent His beloved Son, 
to redeem you, and me, but we must comply with the con- 
ditions upon which salvation is offered, which is by repentance 
and faith through His all atoning blood. It will never do for 
you to dictate to the Almighty God on what terms you shall 
be saved, or the method used to reach you. It is enough to 
know you are lost and that salvation is offered you. My 
friend, can't you see that you are posing just like that man 
in the water and saying, Tf God sent His Son to save me let 
Him do it!' He cannot save you against your will. You 
are a free moral agent. Christ says: 'Ye shall seek me, 
and ye shall find me, when ye seek for me with all your heart/ " 
I recall with pleasure the meeting I held at Minneapolis, 
Minn. I labored in the Centenary M. E. church with Rev. 
George Miller. We had a marvelous work of grace, and out 
of the vast number that sought and found the Lord, one 
young man entered the ministry — Claire Ames — who has re- 
cently closed a successful pastorate in Hartford, Conn. When 
on my trip to Oregon in 191 1, I stopped off at Minneapolis, 
and visited with my old friend, Dr. Calkins, I heard, with 
heart felt praise, that some of the fruits of that revival, held 
so many years ago, were still visible. 



Extensive Evangelistic Tours. 



101 



At Baltimore, Md., at the Union Square Church, we had 
one of the largest meetings of my ministry, for the period of 
time taken. We had two hundred and fifty-six conversions 
in ten days. The pastor was Rev. G. G. Baker, formerly 
of New England. He was a great man, like Moses, a leader 
of God's people. This people believed in old-fashioned Meth- 
odist enthusiasm, the miraculous workings of God. We had 
immense crowds from the very beginning. One thing that 
was very noticeable to me, a New Englander, was that when 
the minister said : "let us pray," every one would get down 
on to their knees. One night, at the first of the meetings, 
Bro. Baker said: "let us pray," and there was such a noise 
that I opened my eyes to see what had happened and to my 
surprise I noticed that everybody had knelt of that large 
audience, except one young man and there he sat bolt upright. 
He was very conspicuous, but I guess he was not more so 
than he felt. After we got home I spoke of the circumstance 
to Bro. Baker, and he said that they were in the habit of 
kneeling. I told him of the young man and made the remark 
that I would not be surprised if he was a New Englander. 
Years afterward, while holding a series of meetings in Lowell, 
Mass., I related this same thing and said: "I'll warrant you 
that young man was from New England." After the meet- 
ing a young man came forward and, after asking a few ques- 
tions, told me that he was that young man and that he felt 
so cheap when he saw that he was the only one sitting up, 
that he wished the floor would open and let him out of sight. 



102 



The Story of My Life. 



The meetings were advertised to begin at 7 130 p. m., but 
at 7 the church would be packed to the doors, galleries and 
all, and the officials and others would gather around the altar 
and pray for the half hour, and we could but expect definite 
results, and we had them. God always honors the effectual, 
fervent prayer. The crowds increased so that it necessitated 
keeping two police officers at the door to keep the crowd 
peacable and from crowding into the aisles. Conviction 
seemed to be on the people whether in the meeting or not. 
Those saints had prayed it down. One night a young man 
came rushing up to the church to get in and the officers told 
him that he could not get in it was so full. He said: "I 
must go in. I promised God this afternoon, at my work, that 
if he would spare my life until to-night that I would go to 
church and go forward for prayers and seek the Lord." The 
officer said: "If you are as in earnest about your soul as 
that you shall go in." He opened the door and pushed the 
young man through. He ran down the aisle, in the midst of 
the preaching, and kneeling at the altar cried for mercy. We 
could stop preaching for such important business as that. In 
a few minutes he leaped to his feet, clapping his hands, and 
shouting for joy. He bore witness that the Lord had saved 
his soul. 

I had a precious time with this people, and enjoyed hear- 
ing the pastor, Bro. Baker, relate a number of his experiences. 
I want to repeat one of them here. He was in the U. S. A. 
and at the close of the war was sent to supply the Methodist 
church at Harper's Ferry, where John Brown was hung. This 



Extensive: Evangelistic Tours. 



103 



town was also the home of many ex-Confederates, who soon 
found out who Bro. Baker was and began to send him threaten- 
ing letters with the picture of skull and cross bones, and 
ordering him to leave the town or they would kill him. -He 
paid no attention to their threats but kept right at his work. 
One night, while holding a meeting at a school house, some 
miles out from the town, a Ku-Kluk came into the meeting 
and drew a revolver on one of his church members. Bro. 
Baker sprang at him and grabbed the pistol out of his hand, 
following him to the door. In telling this incident to me he 
said: "Bro. Johnson, I had an irrepressible power take me 
in my right leg and my foot went up under his coat and he 
went sprawling out of the door." I said : "You didn't kick 
him out, did you?" "'Deed I did. Do you suppose I was 
going to have my meeting broken up by that fellow?" When 
the fellow went out of the door he said to Bro. Baker: "I 
will settle with you when we meet again." A few days later 
they met on the road. Both were on horseback. The man cried 
out to him : "Baker, you remember what I told you ?" "Yes," 
said Baker, "We will just tie our horses, here to the fence, 
and we will go down under the hill, out of sight. But re- 
member that there will not but one of us return." The man 
said: "Oh, Baker, I was only fooling." "Ah," said Baker, 
"so was I." He said that they never tried to run him out of 
town after that. I called this sanctified grit. 

The following year I held meetings again with Bro. Baker 
at the Williams Street Church, where we had a great work of 
grace and many were saved. One night, while preaching 



104 



The: Story of My Lim. 



from the text: "Prepare to meet thy God/' the people rose 
and began running up and down the aisles and clapping their 
hands and shouting and praising God. I had never seen any- 
thing like this and it rather upset my New England ideas. It 
seemed to me like impropriety in the house of God. I turned 
to Bro. Baker, and when he saw my anxiety, he said : "It is 
all right, Bro. Johnson." I said : "Well, Amen, I am aboard 
the ship whether she runs stern or bow, mast up or mast 
down." I only feared the impression on the unconverted, 
from solemnity to ridicule, but when the invitation was given 
for seekers, they came and filled the altar from end to end. 
For more than half an hour there seemed to be a holy hush 
on the people. Many that night were born anew into the 
Kingdom of God. 

I was called to the Willett Street M. E. Church, New 
York, to hold meetings with Rev. J. Searles. I remained with 
this people ten days and there were a few converted, and 
among them was a man converted, to whom I refer to in 
"Miracles of Grace" as the Willett Street Tramp. 

Among the many series of meetings that I held in New 
York State, I want to mention the one held at Binghamton, 
for at this place we saw wonders wrought. The meeting" 
was held in the Centenary M. E. Church, with Rev. O. W. 
Scott. We began under unfavorable circumstances, inas- 
much as the city was very much stirred up against this 
church and the pastor, because of the stand that they had 
taken against the influence of the skating rink. At the very 
first of the meeting we could see that God was with us and 



Extensive Evangelistic Tours. 105 



that to bless. We saw in a little over four weeks more than 
four hundred converted, and many who had said such harsh 
things against this pastor and his people were among those 
who were soundly converted to God. The fruit of that meet- 
ing remains to this day, as a large proportion of the officials 
of that church were converted during that meeting. Also 
from that successful meeting sprung the High Street M. E. 
Church, and later on when Bro. Bradshaw was the pastor of 
that church, I was called to hold a series of meetings with 
them, and I did. We saw a marvelous work of grace wrought 
and scores were added to the church. 

At Union I labored with Rev. George T. Price and we 
had the privilege of seeing scores of young men saved, and the 
most of them identified themselves with that church. The 
other churches received accessions also. 

Rev. A. J. Coultas invited me to hold meetings with him 
at New London, Conn. At the very beginning of the meet- 
ings they seemed signally marked by the presence and power 
of God, in convincing sinners of their need of Christ, and 
producing a hunger in the hearts of God's people for heart 
holiness. I found a good company here ready for aggressive 
work. At the end of the first week there had been a goodly 
number saved, and still we could feel that there seemed to 
be a block in the way for a mighty sweep. We longed to 
see the seekers come out clearer than they did and we were 
anxious for others, so we agreed to pray. One night after 
the service had closed, the pastor suggested that we stay and 
pray with the seekers. We did and a number gathered about 



106 



The Story otf My Lire. 



the altar, and we had a marvelous season of prayer. A num- 
ber that had been hesitating received the witness of the Spirit 
that they were saved. There had been two colored women 
forward several times and had not been satisfied, and they still 
were kneeling as the others came out so clear. I went over to 
them and tried to point out the way, and one of them said she 
wanted the Lord to bless her so that she would know it. 
I said "Let us pray for these two sisters, believing that God 
will honor their faith," and called on one of the brethren to 
lead in prayer. The sisters were in great agony of soul, and 
I could plainly see that they wanted a physical manifestation 
of the saving power of God, as most colored people do, and 
we asked the Lord to bless them good. They prayed them- 
selves and as one of them was praying, the power fell on her 
and she threw out her arms, and as she did so she pushed a 
woman at her side nearly on to the floor, and sprang to her 
feet shouting and praising the Lord and soon the other fol- 
lowed in her footsteps. Their faces fairly shone and one kept 
saying: "I know I am saved, Praise the Lord." I tell you 
we were not far behind in praising the Lord with her. Every 
time any one would take her by the hand and ask her if she 
was satisfied she would seem to receive another shock from 
the battery of Heaven and would go to shouting again. The 
pastor came up to her and said: "Well, I guess you have got 
it," and she was so happy that she reached right over and 
grabbed the minister and dandled him up and down as you 
would a child, and shouting praises to God. This certainly 
was a great evening, marking victory for our King Jesus. 



Extensive: Evangelistic Tours. 107 



The next day I went down town to call on an unconverted 
young man, who was in school with me at East Greenwich, 
and I said to him : "Ellis, you had ought to have been down 
to the meeting last night, we had a good one." He said: 
"Johnson, I was where the larger portion of the officials of 
that church were." I then remembered that some of them 
were absent so said: "Where was that?" He said: "At 
the lodge." I could say no more to him about his soul, for 
what could I say, when members of the church would forsake 
the altar of God, when souls were being born again, and seek 
the altar of Baal? My heart was heavy within me and sad. 
I went to my room and to my knees. That evening at the 
meeting we had another precious meeting, and a number of 
new seekers, and joyful finders of the Pearl of Great Price. 
The men that were absent the night before were there, and 
at the close of the meeting came up and took me by the hand 
and said : "Bro. Johnson, we heard you had a great meeting 
here last evening." I said: "We did." They said: "We 
were unable to be here, but we were with you in spirit." I 
said to myself, "If that statement be true, which I did not be- 
lieve, why were their bodies down taking care of the goat ?" I 
believe in having soul and body together. If their hearts were 
truly yearning for sinners, they never could have forsaken 
God's altars, and taken delight in yoking themselves up with 
unbelievers. 

The meeting swept on from this time and we closed with 
the consciousness that God had owned that meeting. One or 



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more of the young men that were then saved have entered the 
ministry, Praise His precious name. 

I was invited to supply the M. E. Church at Sudbury, 
Mass., during the conference Sunday. I promised the people 
and the Lord that if there was one soul as a seeker of pardon 
during the day that I would stay through the week and hold 
meetings. This church was in a very low condition in every 
respect, so much so, that they had asked the Presiding Elder 
not to send them a preacher the next year. I stopped with 
a family by the name of Bent over the Sabbath. When we 
got up Sunday we found that about six inches of snow had 
fallen during the night, and I must confess that it did not 
look very promising for a large congregation. We hitched 
up the team and drove two miles and a half to the church, and 
when we reached there we found that the janitor had not 
even made a fire, nor swept off the steps, for he thought 
it too stormy to have a meeting, and that if there was one no' one 
would come. We found the door locked but soon got in 
through a window, and while the boys built the fire I rang the 
bell lustily. Then we all took hold and made a path to the 
road, after which I rang the bell again. The people began to 
come and when the services began we had about fifteen out 
to hear us preach. After the service I announced that I 
would preach in the evening and did so to a very good house. 
A barge load of people came over from Maynard where I had 
held meetings. We had a very good meeting, and I asked if 
there was anyone who wanted to be saved, and three adults 
came to the altar. I announced that I would hold meetings 



Extensive: Evangelistic Tours. 109 



every evening during the week, true to the promise I had made 
to the Lord. Monday we had a good company out and from 
that on the house was well filled. When the conference closed 
the Elder sent them a pastor by the name of Wilkie. When 
he arrived he found us in the midst of a revival, and joined 
right in heartily. At the first there was some opposition 
from the supporters of the Unitarian Church (what little it 
was supported). They would ring their bell after we had 
begun our service, and as it was a large bell and the church 
situated so near us, it greatly disturbed us, but we would stop 
preaching and go to singing until they would get through. 
We appointed our meetings fifteen minutes earlier, and after 
we would ring our little bell they would ring theirs, and it 
could be heard for miles around, and instead of it hindering 
the meetings it greatly helped them. The people would ask 
what the bells were ringing for and on being told that the 
Methodists were holding revival meetings, they would come 
for miles around to attend the services and would not have 
been there except for the ringing of that bell. Opposition run 
high and on coming out of meeting some would try to insult 
us by hurling stones and eggs, and one night came up to the 
house and serenaded us. In the midst of it all God greatly 
blessed us and honored our labors by giving us seekers every 
night. In thinking of this experience I often praise the Lord 
for that meeting, and honestly believe that when the curtains 
of eternity are lifted I shall meet many that shall bless the 
Lord for the meeting at Sudbury, where they fulfilled their 



110 



The Story of My Life. 



vows to God and got the witness of the Spirit that they were 
born of God. 

At Woonsoeket, R. I., our experience was varied and 
different than anything we had ever had before. Bro. Alexander 
Ballou, a leading Baptist, of Woonsoeket, requested Dea. 
Morse, of Putnam, Conn., to come there and hold a series, of 
meetings. I was just closing my school year at East Green- 
wich, R. I., when I received word from Dea. Morse, request- 
ing me to come to Putnam at once, as he wanted to arrange 
with me for a meeting at Woonsoeket. After a conference 
with him, I was directed to go to Woonsoeket, the next morn- 
ing, and hire the largest theatre in the city. I returned to 
him that evening and told him I had succeeded in hiring 
Fletcher's Theatre for the next ten days. We got out large 
posters and headed them: "Union Holiness Convention for the 
Conversion of Sinners and the Sanctification of Believers." 
We had the bills posted, by the hundred, on all the billboards 
of the city. We then sent a personal invitation to all the pas- 
tors of the Evangelical churches, and asked them to come and 
do all the good they could and to get all the good they could. 
We engaged board for six at the hotel, and purposed to push 
the battle to the very gates. We held our first meeting Friday 
afternoon. The theatre would seat about nineteen hundred 
people, but we did not have a very large audience, as there 
were fifteen including the workers, but it was certainly a 
great meeting. I shall never forget Bro. Otis Foster's prayer. 
It was one of faith. In the evening we estimated there were 
about six hundred present, and by the following Sunday we 



Extensive; Evangelistic Tours. Ill 



had a congregation that completely filled the place. The 
preachers that day were: Rev. F. D. Blakesly and myself. 
From the very first God's presence was signally manifested. 
We had a full inquiry room after every service, many of them 
being French Catholics. This stirred the whole city. We 
needed help to give instruction to this French people, so sent 
to Canada and engaged the Rev. Father Chineque, a converted 
Catholic priest. This brought out the crowds, for many living 
there had heard him in Canada before he had left the Roman 
church. When he would speak in English he was hissed at 
by the Irish portion of the congregation, but when he would 
speak in French he was listened to with the greatest of interest 
by eager hearers. At the close of his service there were many 
that asked prayers, and remained at the close to converse with 
him, while hundreds made a howling mob outside, waiting 
for Father Chineque to come out to attack him. We would 
take him out of the back door and conduct him to his hotel, 
which was near by. When they found out that he had gone 
to the hotel they went there and howled like a pack of wild 
Indians until dispersed by the police. Many of the converts 
were ill-treated and some of the workers were stoned, but the 
work progressed just the same. 

The meetings were at such a high tide at the close of the 
ten days we did not dare close them, but continued them in 
halls and the Baptist Church (which was opened for us), for 
the next four weeks. We did not have the support of the 
pastors in the city, at the first, as they considered us ranters 
and interlopers. One day one of the pastors met the Rector 



112 



The Story of My Life. 



of the Episcopal Church and asked him if he had attended any 
of the meetings : "Yes," and expressed himself as being 
pleased with the work that we were doing. The pastor re- 
plied: "Well, that Johnson does not know much." "Well," 
said the Rector, "the Good Book says : 'He that winneth souls 
is wise/ " 

Before we left the city I was invited, one Sunday morn- 
ing, to the Episcopal service, and saw thirty-six that had made 
a confession of their faith in Christ, in our meetings, taken 
into that church. Their pastor was a God-fearing man and 
God honored him. The Methodists and Congregationalists 
received scores into their churches, but the Baptist Church 
had the largest accessions of them all. One of those converts 
became a Baptist minister, and afterward the President of 
Colby College, and is now the Missionary Secretary of the 
Baptist denomination, Rev. C. L. White, D. D. 

The expense of this long protracted meeting, was met 
by Deacon Morse and Bro. Ballou, who paid the bills out of 
their own pockets. 

During the winter of 1910 and 191 1 I labored in Oregon, 
being invited out there by Rev. Robert Bishop, who I had 
labored with in Maine, and who had been sanctified at one of 
my meetings on the old Richmond camp-ground. He made 
plans for me to begin at Oswego, one of the churches on his 
circuit. I found this a very pretty town, situated on the banks 
of the Willamette river. I found a very few that really knew 
what it was to be saved. They would attend church Sunday 
morning and then a ball game in the afternoon, so of course 



Extensive; Evangelistic Tours. 113 



the spiritual life run low, and as I had Huguenot blood in 
me, and being brought up in New England, where we honor 
the Sabbath, in a measure, I could not refrain from protest- 
ing against the breaking of God's Sabbath. Of course there 
was strong opposition from cold, formal Christians, and the 
world's people. We had good congregations from the first, 
but never had a break, to speak of, for three weeks, then we 
had a grand work of grace. Bro. Moore, the District Super- 
intendent, said that it was one of the hardest places in his 
district. 

I went from here to Boring, where I found a small 
church, but some of God's very elect. This is an old town, 
and has not grown much until recent years. It is fast becom- 
ing a thickly settled community. We held meetings here for 
three weeks with a few conversions, and the church was 
greatly blessed. The pastor, Rev. Calder, was a man of God, 
and at home in revival work. 

I had a very pleasant home with Bro. W. H. Boring and 
wife, who were ever ready to look after the preacher's com- 
fort. They settled here when the place was a wilderness. He 
told me of the many battles he had had with the wild beasts. 
He was a veteran of the Civil War, and so my stay here was 
a very pleasant one. 

My next field was at Beaverton. Here I found a loving, 
loyal people, but they were facing some very hard problems. 
The former pastor had begun to repair the little church and 
had raised it up one story, and had the studding up, and an 
extension on both sides of the church, and there it had stood 



114 



The Story of My Lira. 



for two years. I told the people it looked like a goose plucked 
of all its feathers. It certainly was a sight and a disgrace 
to them. 

I held a very successful series of meetings here for four 
weeks, many being saved. After meeting one Sunday I told 
them I wanted to take subscriptions for the completion of the 
church and we collected over three hundred dollars. This 
greatly encouraged them, of course, and they went on under 
the leadership of their faithful pastor, Rev. E. D. Rees, and 
finished the church, and now they have a very pretty country 
church in that town. All glory be to the King of Kings. 

I was next called to Willamina. This is an old town, and 
has been growing for the past eight years. The Methodist 
Church, although weak, had a faithful few. 

We had a few marked conversions, and considering the 
problem before us, great good was accomplished. The Camp- 
bellites had held a meeting before us in the fall, and had bap- 
tized some sixty, and as they do not teach repentance as a con- 
dition for church membership, but water baptism instead, it 
greatly handicapped us. We met with the most bitter op- 
position from them on every side. I told them they must 
repent and believe in Jesus as their personal Saviour, if they 
wanted to reign with Him in Glory. 

I was then called to Amity with the Rev. E. Gettuis, as 
the pastor. Bro. Gettuis is a real warrior of the old Methodist 
stamp, and believed that God heard and answered prayer. I 
greatly enjoyed my visit and my labors with this brother 
and his people. This was the strongest church in the town in 



Extensive Evangelistic Tours. 



115 



every respect. We had very good houses from the begin- 
ning, and gave Bible readings in the afternoon for three 
weeks. There were fruits from our labors from the very first 
service. There were many young men as seekers, and it made 
our hearts rejoice as they would come to the altar and as 
they would rise from their knees, with faces all smiles, would 
testify to the saving power. I have been told that one of 
them is fitting himself for the ministry, and plans to enter the 
Baptist denomination. 

At Carlton I found a small membership but a fine church 
edifice and parsonage, and only four hundred dollars in debt. 
They were a heroic band of workers and faced the odds with 
a mighty arm of faith. They only had preaching once in two 
weeks, their pastor, Rev. G. O. Oliver, living at Fayette, 
some twelve miles away. They maintained a Sabbath school 
every Sunday. I labored with them a little more than two 
weeks. The people turned out very well, and those that were 
saved will be a great help to this little struggling band of 
faithful workers. 

My last and largest field of labor in this state was 
McMinnville, Rev. Blackenberry, pastor. McMinnville is a 
city of about six thousand inhabitants. The Methodist Church 
is one of the strongest in the city, but had been somewhat 
weakened and divided by its best friends. There is a strong 
holiness band here and has been for years, but some have been 
unwise in professing this gracious experience, and those that 
did not enjoy the blessing, had likewise been unwise in oppos- 
ing this Bible experience, and of course this caused the fric- 



116 



The Story of My Life. 



tion. I soon saw the situation and so gave Bible readings 
every afternoon on Bible Holiness. I encouraged the weak to 
eat strong meat, and urged the strong to be patient with the 
weak. I tried to teach them what perfect love will do and 
what it will not do. Both sides needed reproving and ad- 
monishing and many of them came to see what they had never 
seen before, what heart holiness will do for a soul wholly given 
up to God. The Lord wonderfully helped us in presenting 
this grand Scriptural and Methodist doctrine. Many sought 
the blessing and found it and others, who were about to leave 
the church, were led to see that they could work for the Lord 
and enjoy this blessing in the Methodist Church. It certainly 
was a great meeting. We had a full house with seekers at 
every service. They have a good shepherd in the pastor, who 
is straight and true. I had a precious time with this people 
and their pastor. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Mirac^s of Grace:. 

When I was holding meetings in the Trinity Church, in 
Worcester, Mass., at the close of one of the evening services, 
I found a man standing in the vestibule. I approached him 
and taking him by the hand said: "Friend, have you given 
yourself to Christ :?" He said: "No, sir, you don't know 
what sort of a character I am." I said : "That may be true, 
but God knows." "Yes," he said, "but I am one of the worst." 
I invited him to the hotel to talk with me. He accepted the 
invitation and I took him to my room. He seemed in a 
nervous mood and I thought it best to let him unburden his 
mind, for I could plainly see that something was troubling 
him. He said: "I want to make a confident of you and tell 
you my experience." I encouraged him to do so and gave him 
the assurance that it would never go beyond my lips without 
his permission. He said: "I was brought up as a sneak 
thief in New York from boyhood. I joined myself with a 
gang of bank robbers and post-office burglars. I have been 
arrested many times and have spent more than half of my life 
behind the bars. I have just now been released from the State 
Prison at Wethersfield, Conn., where I have served a term 



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Thk Story otf My Lira. 



of three years. I am now working- in one of the shoe shops 
in this city. If there is any chance for me to be a different 
man I am determined to know it. There are a number of 
crimes I have committed which have never been detected, 
some of them burglaries of post-offices, and if I should start to 
become a Christian, I should have to confess to the authorities, 
they would cast me into prison and it would mean that the 
rest of my life would be spent behind prison bars. I do not 
say but that it is what I richly deserve, but you can see that 
for me to start to be a Christian means a lot." Now, I must 
confess, that this statement, from this man, at first staggered 
me somewhat. I finally said: "You must take your choice; 
make the confession, take the punishment and die on the stone 
bottom of a prison if necessary, with the consciousness that 
you have done right, and if you refuse to confess you will be 
barred from the Kingdom of Heaven forever." He fell upon 
his face in agony of soul and cried : "God, be merciful to me, 
a sinner." God heard the earnest, honest supplication of this 
sinner, for after a few hours he sprang to> his feet, and cried 
out: "Jesus saves me. Jesus saves me." Then turning to 
me he said : "You must make arrangements to surrender me 
to the Government." He went to his room a happy Christian. 

I began at once negotiating with the Government, and in 
time received word from them saying- that they freely forgave 
him. He cleared up the other cases as far as he could, and 
united himself with that church and was recognized as an 
honorable member. He became a successful business man, 
and in a few years died in the triumphs of faith. 



Miracles of Grace:. 



119 



While holding meetings in the Nazarene Tabernacle, in 
Los Angeles, Cal., with Dr. Breesee, I witnessed an uncom- 
mon thing. One evening at the altar were a number of seek- 
ers and among them I noticed a Chinese woman kneeling. I 
spoke to her and tried to point her to Christ, as her Saviour. 
I found that she understood but a very little English, but after 
much prayer and weeping, on her part, rose to her feet with 
a shining face. We found that she had been living a life of 
shame in Chinatown, but God had blotted out her transgres- 
sions and had redeemed and saved her soul. 

The next night she was there again, and to our great sur- 
prise, when we invited seekers to the altar, we saw her inviting 
American women to the altar to seek the Saviour. She would 
go to the altar and try in her way to give instruction to> the 
seekers and tell them that Christ could save them for He had 
saved her. We find that an experimental knowledge of 
Christ helps us to help others. 

"Come, and bear witness, Christian, 
Come and tell all around, 
What a dear Friend in Jesus, 

What a sweet joy you have found. 

Who is a Friend like Jesus? 

Pardoning all our sin, 
Giving His Holy Spirit, 

Breathing His peace within. 

Friends, you have heard our witness, 

Heard of our Friend above, 
Will not you haste to seek Him, 

Proving His saving love?" 



120 



The Story otf My Life. 



This precious soul lived a witness for Christ and was very 
happy in her new-found hope. 

While I was at Lynn, Mass., a drunken Irishman came 
into my meeting, right in the midst of my preaching, and 
walked right down the aisle to the front. He stood before 
me and said in his broken English : "Is there any hopes for 
such a man as I am?" I said: "Yes, no matter how deep 
you have sunken in sin, nor how many scars it has left upon 
you, Jesus Christ came into the world and suffered and died 
to save just such sinners as you." At this point some of the 
officials of the church wanted to put him out, but I said: 
"Brethren, let him alone, he will not disturb us." I told him 
to be seated and listen to my sermon, and he did with the tears 
running down his cheeks. At the close of the discourse I gave 
the invitation to those that wanted to become Christians, and 
he staggered to the altar, knelt down and began praying for 
himself, with the hot, scalding tears of repentance pouring 
down his face, and in less than twenty minutes, this man, who 
was fired up with that demoniac devil — rum — was sobered off 
and gloriously saved. He rose to his feet a new creature 
in Christ Jesus. Six years afterward, while holding meetings 
in Marblehead, I heard a voice, clear up back in the church, 
during the testimony meeting, shouting out. "Brother John- 
son, don't you know me? I am that drunken Irishman who 
was converted in your meeting in Lynn. Jesus has kept me 
all these years and I have never touched a drop of liquor since, 
have never had the desire for it, Praise the Lord, and I'm 



Miracles o£ Grace). 



121 



saved tonight/' So the miraculous-working power of God is 
not spent yet. 

While in Binghamton, New York, one night at our altar 
knelt a well-dressed woman, but anything but a lady. She 
soon received the witness of the Spirit that she was born of 
God and sins forgiven. She was a happy woman in the Lord. 
At the close of the service, in conversation with one of the 
members of the church, she confessed that she was the keeper 
of a house of prostitution, and then invited this member to 
call upon her the next day. The sister came to me and told 
me about this case and what the woman's request was — that 
she should call upon her. "But," she said : "Brother Johnson, 
if I should go< to that house of shame I would forfeit my social 
standing in the Centenary Church." "Well," I said : "Sister, 
I think it is your duty to go, and you must choose, now, be- 
tween losing your social standing before this church or your 
standing before God." She settled it with the Lord and said : 
"Yes." She called on her the next day, and at night came into 
the church with a shining face, and the joyful assurance that 
she had been privileged to lead six of those poor unfortunates 
to Christ, and to the abandonment of their life of shame. 
What a privilege to add stars to her crown in Glory. 

When holding meetings in Fletcher's Theatre, Woon- 
socket, R. I., the people from the French portion of the city 
attended in large numbers. One case, among those who* were 
converted, stands out in my memory very prominently. A 
young man, by the name of Alexander Gilbert, whose father 
and mother were dead, had been placed under the guardianship 



122 



The: Story otf My LitfE. 



of the priest of the parish, who was also the administrator of 
his father's estate. Young- Gilbert became interested in the 
meetings, and after a few days was soundly converted to God. 
His guardian, finding it out, remonstrated with him, but Gil- 
bert had got a taste of the satisfying portion, and wanted to 
know more. He began to read his Bible and to pray as he 
had been instructed, and the more he prayed and read the 
Word of God, the more he was convinced that it was not 
through saying prayers from a prayer-book or on beads and 
confessing his sins to man, that brought peace and gave him 
joy in his soul, but praying to God through Jesus Christ, the 
Saviour of man. He told his guardian this and said that he 
must be true to Christ now that he had received light. One 
night as he was going to church he met his guardian, who 
walked with him to the church door, trying to have him see 
that he had made a mistake in renouncing the Catholic faith. 
When the bell stopped tolling, Gilbert said to him : "It is 
time for my service to begin, and I must go in," and bade the 
priest good evening. He was spoiled for this world. He is 
an undertaker in the city and one of the leading members of 
the Baptist Church. Praise the Lord forever for His won- 
derful working power. 

While holding revival services at Johnson, Vt., we had a 
wonderful answer to prayer in the conversion of Joel Hodg- 
kins, a former lumber dealer of Belvidere. The meetings had 
been in progress some two weeks and the whole town seemed 
to be stirred when one day I was asked by Perley Hodgkins, 
the son, who had been converted, to call on them at their home. 



Miracles o# Grace. 



123 



He told me that his father did not believe in religion at all, 
and if I came up to the house his father would probably talk 
pretty rough to me. I planned to go the next day, and after 
praying for Divine guidance, I took a team and drove to the 
home, about a mile and a half from the village. I found him 
preparing wood for the boiling of sap, for maple sugar in the 
spring. I approached him, and waved my hand in salutation ; 
he came up to the wagon and shook hands with me. We 
passed the time of day, and he said: "I am quite deaf so 
you will have to speak very loud to me." We talked about 
the farm and the cattle for a little and then I said : "I have 
not seen you up to any of the meetings in the village/' He 
said : "No, you have not." Then he drew back and looked at 
me for a minute straight in the face and said : "Are you the 
man that is holding the meetings in the village?" I said: 
"I am." "Well," he said, "I don't believe in anything that 
you are preaching, for I do not believe that God can reveal 
Himself to people as I have heard that you have said He 
would." "But," I said, "Mr. Hodgkins, the proof of the 
pudding is in the eating, isn't it?" "Yes," he replied. "Well," 
I said, "I have tasted and I know He can save, for He has 
saved me." He waited a moment, in deep thought, and then 
straightening up said: "Say, if there is anything in it, it is 
of the most vital interest to me, and if there is nothing in it, 
it is the greatest humbuggery that was ever imposed upon the 
people," "Well," I said, "this is something each one can test 
for himself." He said: "How can we find it out?" I said: 
"If you will follow my directions I believe God will reveal 



124 



The Story of My Life. 



Himself to your inner consciousness within forty-eight hours, 
and if He does not I will denounce the whole thing, myself." 
(I knew in whom I believed and that He was able to do 
abundantly more above all that we could ask or think). 

He said: "Well, what would you advise?" I said: 
"You begin by doing all you can for the Lord, as having 
family prayers and reading the Bible twice a day and asking 
grace at the table at each meal, and thank the Lord for His 
benefits to you." He laughed, and said : "I guess the people 
will laugh at me when they find out what I, a wicked old 
sinner and an unbeliever, am doing. Well, as there is so 
much depends on this I promise you that I will do it, and see. 
I haven't much faith in it, remember, and if I do not get any 
light in forty-eight hours, I will come up to the village and 
give you a good skinning." He went to the house and told 
his wife and family what he had talked over, and agreed to 
do, and he did it. 

The next noon the Lord gave him a test. A friend of his 
from down country, a cattle buyer, came to take dinner with 
him, and when they sat down to eat their dinner, Mr. Hodg- 
kins said to the man : "You will think it strange to hear me 
ask God's blessing on this food, but I have promised the 
preacher, that is at the village, that I would do so, so I must." 
He then repeated all the conversation we had had and then 
proceeded to ask the blessing. 

I went to my secret closet of prayer for him, and within 
thirty-six hours his son came to my room in the hotel and told 
me his father wanted me to come to him at once. He said 



Miracles of Grace. 



125 



that he did not know but what he was dying, he was in such 
agony of soul. I went at once and took with me the Rev. 
Charles Stebbins, who was calling on me that morning. We 
found him under conviction, and so burdened over his soul, 
and with tears streaming down his face, he said : "I have not 
slept for hours and I have found out that I am a lost man, I 
want you to help me find Christ, for find Him I must." I 
said: "Let us get down and pray." We did and as Bro. 
Stebbins prayed, I told Mr. Hodgkins to look away from his 
sins to Jesus and he would find Him the Great Deliverer." 
His great frame shook like an aspen leaf in a gale. I prayed 
and then we got him to pray, and as we followed him in his 
prayer and as he prayed through the light began to dawn and 
peace came and he arose and said : "I feel that there has been 
a change come over me. Glory be to God." He walked about the 
house clapping his hands and blessing the Lord for saving 
him. That was a day never to be forgotten in that home. 
That night he came to the meeting and told the people what a 
change had come over him. 

I baptized him and took him into the Methodist Church. 
I have heard him say so many times in years afterward : "If 
I am lost, at last, I can never doubt that God saved me and 
forgave me my sins." He was a great help to me, for years, 
as a councellor, and a friend, and was my financial backer in 
establishing the Ithiel Falls Camp Ground. 

He dropped dead with heart trouble, and we can say as 
Jonathan said about David: "We miss him for his seat is 



126 



Ths Story off My Lira. 



empty/' Thus ended the earthly career of this my dear friend 
and brother. 

At Hubbardston we had a marvelous display of the power 
of God in the conversion of an infidel, by the name of Parsons. 
This man had been attending the meetings for days, and his 
influence, over the young men of the place, had not been the 
best. I was informed of what he was doing and saying against 
the work, his slurs against the Bible, and that he thought it 
foolishness to pray. We took this case to- God in prayer, and 
told the Lord that we believed he was the key log in the jam, 
and that it must be removed in some way so the work could 
go on. It seemed as if the work was being choked. I told 
the Lord we were asking in faith believing and expected to 
see the Mighty arm of God displayed as sure as could be. A 
few nights after this I went to the church and after the serv- 
ice felt led to make a very definite statement. I said: "If 
there is any one here who does not believe that God hears and 
answers prayer, if they will come forward and follow my 
directions, I believe that the Lord will let them find out that 
there is a God in Israel yet, and that He does answer prayer." 
As soon as I said this Mr. Parsons rose and came up to the 
altar rail, and stood before me and said, so significant: "I 
don't believe that there is a God, and I do* not believe that he 
answers prayer." I said : "You have come to this altar to find 
out whether there is a God or not?" "Yes sir," he said. "Well, 
I want you to kneel down." He did, and then I said, to the 
Christian people: "All of you that believe that God will 
answer prayer and that He will convince this man of his con- 



Miracles of Grace:. 



127 



dition, come around this altar and pray if you never prayed 
before, believing." Only a few came. It seemed as if they 
were almost paralyzed at it, and the unsaved were as white, 
with fear, as death. Brother Woodbury and his wife and 
daughter, Mary (now an evangelist), and Sister Nichols came 
and knelt beside me. It was a scene never to be forgotten by 
those who witnessed it. Bro. Woodbury began to pray. It 
was a prayer of faith and he seemed to forget that there was 
another soul in the house, and that he was talking alone with 
Jesus. When he closed, I said to Mr. Parsons: "Now, will 
you pray, 'God be merciful to me, a sinner ?' " He said : "I 
don't believe in a God." "Well, if you do not, you can pray 
like this : 'Oh, God, if there be a God, have mercy on me.' " 
He said: "Yes, I can say that," and he did. There was a 
deathlike silence in that room so much so that it was fearfully 
oppressive. Just then Sister Nichols began to plead the 
promises of God. She said that Christ was a present help in 
time of need and that this was our time of need. I scarcely 
ever heard such an agonizing prayer, it seemed as if Heaven 
must give way. Usually something moves when such travail 
of soul is on us. As she closed, I said to Mr. Parsons, who 
by this time was all of a tremble: "You pray again." He 
started out to repeat what I had told him to pray before, but 
left out, "if there be a God," and in such agony of soul said : 
"Oh, God, have mercy on my poor soul." His arms fell over 
the altar rail and he toppled like a dead man, and would have 
gone to the floor, but for the rail. I prayed while he sobbed 
and cried for mercy. He did not find the light that evening, 



128 



The; Story of My Life. 



but told the people that he had found out that there was a 
God and that He heard and answered prayer. We went to 
the hotel, where he was boarding, and continued praying until 
about four o'clock the next morning, when God spoke peace 
to his soul. He was at the service the next night, and told 
the people what God had done for him. This proved to be 
the turning point in these meetings, which resulted in the 
conversion of scores of souls. Air. Parsons became a useful 
member of that church for years. To God be all the praise 
for this wonderful answer to prayer. 

When I was holding meetings at Bristol, R. I., with Rev. 
W. V. Morrison, I saw the wonderful working power of God 
in the conversion of a French Catholic. He wandered into 
our meeting's out of curiosity, and the power of conviction got 
a grip on him. He came to the meetings several times before 
he came forward for prayers. At last he yielded to the call 
and made his way to the altar, and with tearful eyes, and 
earnest faith he entered into the joyful experience of the 
pardoning love of God. Some evenings afterwards in the tes- 
timony meeting, he gave in his testimony in broken English, 
and this is what he said : "The hen lay the egg and sit on the 
egg and hatch out the chicken and the chicken no peep, he be 
a dead chicken. Me be converted to God, and me no peep, I 
be a dead convert. I mean to peep, peep, peep, all the time." 

When I held meetings with Dr. J. E. Searles, at the Willet 
Street M. E. Church, New York City, we had a tramp wander 
into the meeting one day and get gloriously saved. When he 
presented himself at the altar some of the officials wanted to 



Miracles of Grace. 



129 



put him out for they thought he was a dead-beat, just working 
us to get money to buy rum with. I told them to let him alone 
for I believed he was in dead earnest for his soul. He cer- 
tainly was a hard looking case, he was so ragged and unclean. 
I saw Deacon Morse kneel by his side and heard him tell him 
that Jesus could save him. We urged him to pray, he did, 
and after a great struggle, yielded himself to God. He tes- 
tified that he was saved and he certainly looked like a changed 
man. Bro. Morse gave him some money to encourage him, 
advised him to get out of the city and to go> over in Connecti- 
cut and go to work on a farm. Years passed by and one morn- 
ing the bell of Dea. Morse's home, in Putnam, Conn., rang, 
the deacon went to the door and there stood a man, nicely 
dressed in every respect. He said: "Good morning, Dea, 
Morse, I am on a business trip to Boston, and as I remembered 
that you told me you lived here I thought I would stop over 
one train and call on you." The deacon said: "You have 
the advantage of me for I do not recall your face just now." 
The man said : "Well, I do not wonder, but I am the Willet 
Street tramp." Bro. Morse did some shouting you may be 
assured. The man told the deacon that it was the turning 
point in his life. He had left the city the next day, procured 
work on a farm in Connecticut. He had written his wife, who 
had left him, that he had been saved. She doubted his hon- 
esty but after two years she had taken him back. His old 
employer sent for him and gave him the position as purchasing 
agent of carpets for one of the largest firms in New York 
at a salary of thirty-five hundred a year. The Lord had 



130 



Ths Story of My Lira. 



prospered him, given him back his wife, children, and his 
home. He was fully trusting in Christ. It pays to help those 
that have been scorched while in the devil's service. 

While at Poland, Maine, camp meeting, I preached from 
the text: "Sirs, what must I do to be saved/' telling the peo- 
ple that some of them would have to bring forth fruit meet for 
repentance, by making confession and restoring some of their 
dishonest gain. At the close of the sermon a man came to* me 
and said: "This sermon has cost me hundreds of dollars. I 
have defrauded the government out of it by false affidavits. 
I swore that I was shot through my foot while in battle before 
Petersburg, when I shot myself because I did not want to 
go into battle." I gave him some advice and he promised me 
that he would confess and give up the money. He did and 
received the Pearl of Great Price, with peace of mind, glory 
be to God. 

We saw the wonder working power of God in the con- 
version and deliverance of a woman addicted to the use of 
morphine, while holding meetings with Rev. F. C. Norcross 
in Madison, Maine. She came to the altar and prayed and 
wept but did not seem to get the victory. We prayed with 
her, not knowing her besetting sin, and not getting the light 
she felt led to tell us of her bondage. She said that she had 
been trying to break away and drop it by degrees. I told her 
that Christ was able to save her and deliver her wholly and 
take the very desire for it from her, and He would do it for 
her at once if she would only trust God for it and believe Him. 
She at last declared : "I will never touch it again by the grace 



Miracxss otf Grace. 



131 



of God." She received complete deliverance and we often 
heard her testify to the saving and keeping power of God. 
Praise His Holy Name. 

While holding meetings with Rev. E. E. Reynolds, in 
Manchester, N. H., we certainly witnessed a miracle of grace. 
Brother George Marston was a mason by trade and a man 
about seventy years of age, I should judge. He had been an 
attendant of the Methodist Church for some years, but had 
never made a profession of religion. He had a godly wife, 
who believed in prayer. She persuaded him to* attend the 
revival services, while I was there, and I had noticed him in 
the congregation for two weeks, and always listening at- 
tentively. One night, as the invitation was being given, I saw 
him rise from his seat, weeping, and he came direct to the 
altar and knelt. He prayed earnestly for pardon and, thank 
God, he was saved that night and on going to his home set up 
the family altar and asked grace at the table. He had used 
tobacco for years and years but as soon as he was converted 
he saw at once that it was not consistent for a Christian man 
to use the filthy weed, and after a severe testing time God 
gave him the victory over it. He testified, after months of 
experience, that he had better health, enjoying his food as 
never before, and had lost all desire for tobacco. Think of 
that for a man of his age. Bless God for such visible results 
of His mighty working power. 



CHAPTER X. 
Camp Meeting Work. 

I have always greatly enjoyed holding camp meetings in 
a grove or under a tent. My heart has been in love with 
camp meeting work ever since I was saved on old Sterling camp 
ground. I have gone to the spot, where Christ forgave my 
sins, many times and offered up a prayer of thanksgiving. I 
never pass by on the train but what I look toward the spot and 
think of the stake I put down there as a mile stone in my life, 
that from henceforth I should live for Christ. It makes my 
heart sad to hear preachers say the day of usefulness of the 
camp meeting has gone by as a place to get the people saved. 
I think this is an admission that the Gospel has lost its power 
to attract crowds and that the ministry does not know how to 
reach the masses and to bring them to Christ and so have 
turned many of our once storm centres into a play ground and 
our preachers' stand into lecture platform, and the mourners' 
bench, which used to be filled with earnest seekers, is wanted 
no more. This, in my judgment, is not true, for in a number 
of meetings that I have been especially interested, where the 
Gospel has been preached, as an antidote for sin, and they are 
led to accept it, I have seen them go from the mourners' bench 



134 



The Story off My Life. 



with happy hearts and shining faces made so by the witness 
within that Jesus saves. This sight will draw people to our 
camps as it did in the years of the past. It has been my privilege 
to attend over three hundred camp meetings in the different 
parts of the States and in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. I 
have had the privilege of mingling with many of God's noble- 
men such as Bishop W. F. Mallalieu, Bishop William Taylor, 
Daniel Steele, D. D., William McDonald, D. D., Revs. J. S. In- 
skip, G. D. Watson, J. S. Searles, Alexander McLean, William 
Boole, J. A. Wood, W. B. Gorham, P. F. Breesee, J. N. Short, 
Robert Lowery, E. M. Levy, J. B. Foot, W. J. Wilson, E. F. 
Walker, Jefferson Haskell, C. N. Smith, J. O. Peck, W. S. 
Jones, Charles Pratt, Charles Munger, Camp-meeting John 
Allen, and hundreds of others I cannot mention, whom 
I have heard preach with such power that the multitudes 
were swayed and hundreds were led to Christ. I should like 
to speak of all these great feasts at length but space will not 
permit. I will only speak of a few where I have been used 
of God to render some service in building up grounds and 
establishing a meeting. 

I have seen marvelous displays of God's wonderful work- 
ing power. I have listened at Old Sterling to some of the 
Gospel war horses preach the Gospel as if they expected defi- 
nite results immediately. These meetings were attended by 
thousands and hundreds have been saved and sanctified. Many 
a meeting has been prolonged into the night, and the power of 
God would fall on the people, to such an extent, that some 



Camp Meeting Work. 



135 



would fall as if slain, with their faces shining with the glory 
of God. 

I was holding meetings at Martha's Vineyard when I re- 
ceived a telegram from Dr. W. F. Mallalieu, who was the 
Presiding Elder of the then Worcester District, to come to 
Sterling and assist him at the camp meeting. I started at 
once and when I got there they had had a wonderful awaken- 
ing and it continued to increase to the close of the five-days' 
meeting. It was estimated that over two hundred were saved 
and scores were sanctified. The preaching had been clear 
and definite. From such camp meetings we would return to 
our homes and expected, and did have, a revival. We are 
asked to-day, where are the thousands that used to attend Old 
Sterling? Where are the preachers that used to come with 
their flock and expected to see a God-spell on the camp? 
Some, yes many, have gone to their reward, but many that 
are left do not care to attend since they have changed from 
pray to play. They have introduced so many things that 
do not build up spirituality nor put the sinner under convic- 
tion. 

In July, 1873, I attended my first National camp meet- 
ing at Landersville, Penn. Here, for the first time, I met that 
modern Moses, Rev. John Inskip, who had charge under the 
National Association. During the ten days there were thirty 
sermons preached on Holiness, not one to the unconverted, 
and although scores were sanctified hundreds were converted 
to God. These meetings marked a new epoch in my life. 
People from all sections of the country came to this meeting 



136 



The Story of My Life. 



to hear these great men talk and preach on this so-called new 
doctrine, "Holiness." I will give one instance which came 
under my own observation. During an altar service I heard 
a woman praying: "O, Lord, take me, take me." I got up 
from my knees and went back to her and said: "Sister, the 
Lord has been wanting to take you for a long time. You just 
let go, give up, and take the Lord." She replied : "I am will- 
ing to give up, and have told the Lord I would give up hus- 
band, children and all. Everything is on the altar." I noticed 
she was pretty well handcuffed with jewelry, so I said: "Sis- 
ter, if the Lord should say so, will you give up your jewelry?" 
She said : "I do not know as the Lord wants me to give them 
up." I said : "Well, my sister, God will never bless you until 
you do know now," and I left her. In a little while I heard 
some one praising God and on looking back saw that same 
sister throw those bracelets up into the air and spread a green 
silk parasol, and she went round and round swinging it and 
praising' God. This was my first National meeting, but I was 
privileged afterward to attend such meetings at the follow- 
ing places: Sterling, Mass., June, 1874; Old Orchard, Me., 
Aug., 1874 and 1883; Framingham, Mass., Aug., 1877; 
Epping, N. H., Aug., 1878; Douglas, Mass., 1879 ; New Castle, 
Penn., Aug., 1879; Summit Grove, Penn., July, 1879; Round 
Lake, N. Y., July, 1880, and Pitman Grove, Aug., 1883. 
Every member of the National Holiness Association of those 
days has joined the innumerable company of those that John 
saw on Patmos, who had come up out of great tribulation and 



Camp Meeting Work. 



137 



had washed their robes and made them white in the blood of 
the Lamb. 

I was privileged to be one of the pioneers of the Old 
Douglas, Mass., camp meeting. The first meeting was held on 
the other side of the road from the present grounds, during 
the summer of 1875., Deacon Levi Stoddard and Bro. J. W. 
Cooledge, of the Congregationalist Church, of Douglas, and 
Rev. Luther Wing, a Methodist at East Douglas, feeling 
the need of a special effort for the good of the people, secured 
these grounds, organized a committee, consisting of the fol- 
lowing Board of Directors : Dea. G. M. Morse, Pres., Bro. 
J. W. Cooledge, Sec, Bro. Luther Wing, Treas., Dea. Levi 
Stoddard and the writer. I was intensely interested in this 
meeting, it being within one mile of the home where I was 
born. We set to work to make a camp, having only three 
small tents and a larger one for the meetings when stormy. 
We seated the grove for out-door meetings. We secured the 
services of Mr, Sawtell, from South Framingham, as caterer. 
His provisions not arriving on time for our first meal we set 
to work to scour the neighboring houses for eatables. Every 
one was very hospitable and kind and solicitous for our good 
and the success of the meeting, and we finally had an excel- 
lent dinner. The services of ex-Governor Berry, of New 
Hampshire (an old-time Methodist), Rev. F. D. Blakesley, 
D. D., of the East Greenwich Academy, Dea. Morse, I. T. 
Johnson, Miss Charlotte Holmes, a Quakeress, of Burrillville, 
R. I., several converts from the Catholic Church, of Putnam, 
and others were among the speakers. The meetings were well 



138 



Th£ Story of My LitfE. 



advertised through the county papers and circulars, and from 
the first were well attended. The first convert was a Roman 
Catholic, named Peter Dion, who afterward became a Mis- 
sionary among the French. He was gloriously converted to 
God while kneeling right between my knees. This stirred up 
great opposition among the Catholics in the congregation, and 
they rushed out into the road and threw missiles into our 
midst. This meeting was considered a great success and there 
was a general desire that there should be another camp meet- 
ing held the next year. In the following May, Dea. Morse 
and myself, met at Dea. Stoddard's house to make plans for 
such a meeting. We found that we must pay $50 a year for 
the grounds that we had the meeting on, so planned to buy 
land somewhere. We three went out, and at Dea. Stoddard's 
suggestion, went to look over the present grounds. We 
crawled in over an old rail fence, and on our hands and knees, 
beneath the underbrush to where the Preacher's stand now is, 
and planned for the auditorium. The whole thing seemed to 
be just right for an ideal camp ground. The next thing was 
to purchase it. Dea. Morse said that he would pay for it, if 
Dea. Stoddard could get possession of it, it being owned by a 
Catholic in the town. We went back to the house, prayed 
about it, and Dea. Stoddard started out. He got the 
promise of it and the next day went and bought it. 
A little later Dea. Morse purchased another parcel of 
land, now known as Mount Zion and that piece going 
toward the depot from Mr. E. Balcolm. Dea. Morse 
asked me if I could go right at it and clear it up for a meet- 



Camp Mating Work. 



139 



ing in July. He said : "Bro. Johnson, I will put my money 
with your camp-meeting knowledge and you go ahead and do 
what you can/' He sent up thirty Frenchmen from Putnam, 
and we went at it, cleared the underbrush, made roads, built 
bridges. The deacon had several cottages built at Putnam 
and he had them sent up on the cars and erected on the ground 
for the coming meeting. One day, just a little before the 
meeting, the men struck for more pay. It was not that they 
were dissatisfied with the pay, but they knew we must have the 
work done, and in a certain time, that now would be their 
chance to grind out more money from the deacon. We just 
let them go and telegraphed the deacon and he sent up another 
batch and finished the work and in July, 1876, we held the 
first meeting on those now historic grounds. It is safe to say 
that Dea. Morse expended over twenty thousand dollars on 
the grounds. I remember at this first camp meeting that in 
one social meeting, in the men's pavilion, everybody was saved, 
A Frenchman ran out of the meeting and down to the office 
and Bro. Morse's son Stillman asked him how the meeting 
was going, he replied : "I stay till they catch 'em six, then I 
leave." Bro. Morse always secured the best and ablest speak- 
ers for the meetings. It grew year after year, souls were con- 
verted and sanctified, and the meetings full of power. Oh, 
how God has blessed me again and again on that ground in 
labors, not a few, with that man of God — Dea. Morse. We 
have been privileged to witness some wonderful manifestations 
of God's power to save and sanctify. Such marvelous answers 
to prayer has been ours to see. I never missed a meeting for 



uo 



The: Story of My Life:. 



the first thirty-one years. Since then, having- moved into Ver- 
mont, I have been unable to attend. God bless the Old 
Douglas camp meeting. 

Richmond, Maine. 

This is one of the oldest camp grounds in Maine and 
when it was established it was understood it should be strictly 
held as a holiness meeting and for years it was thus conducted. 
Twice the National Holiness Association held a meeting there 
and God put His seal on them. I have been told that there 
were from eight to ten thousand people in attendance some 
days, and of course scores were converted and many entered 
into the blessing of perfect love. There have been many min- 
isters, of different denominations, who have received the bap- 
tism of the Holy Ghost on these grounds. I was invited to 
take charge of this meeting in 1893. I found them run down 
both spiritually and financially. The buildings, ninety in all, 
which had been formerly occupied by earnest worshippers, 
were nearly all closed, and many of them going to decay, and 
some had been moved off from the grounds. The old tent 
that had been used for a tabernacle, was unfit to hold meetings 
in and especially if it rained. Everything spoke of decay. 
The directors had not been able to pay their running expenses 
without borrowing money, and there was an old debt of two 
thousand dollars that had been carried for more than twenty- 
five years. Only a few faithful ones attended the meetings 
and they were about discouraged and ready to give up. They 
had resorted to many questionable things to raise money, which 



Camp Meeting Work. 



141 



was sure to destroy all spiritual life, such as stereopticons, 
concerts, comic readings, lectures on culture and beauty. In 
spite of all this effort to pay their bills they were still running 
behind and the most of the evenings were taken up, during my 
first visit there, with such worldly diversions. Of course I 
was greatly handicapped, as they had all their plans laid be- 
fore I was engaged. I took a few workers with me and we 
were to take care of the services during the day, and when 
the evening frolics came on we stayed in our rooms and prayed. 
There were a few saved that first year, bless the Lord. They 
invited me to come the next year. I told them I could not 
come and be a partaker with them in such a sham meeting, 
but if they would hold a camp meeting, and cut out all the 
questionable means of raising their finances and selling pea- 
nuts, ice cream, candy and soda on Sundays, I would consent 
to come and take charge. They said : "What shall we do 
about our money?" My reply was: "Let us run a camp 
meeting for the glory of God and trust Him to supply the 
money." They said : "If you think this is the best way we 
will put the whole meeting over into 1 your hands, as far as the 
spiritual part is concerned, and we will eliminate all traffic 
on the ground that is objectionable to you." I agreed to take 
charge and to trust God for the financial support for myself 
and workers. I bought a little cottage for seventeen dollars 
and a half, that cost over a hundred dollars to build it, so 
you can see how the property had depreciated. The next 
summer we went to Richmond early and began plans for 
the meeting. I engaged speakers, singers, made arrange- 



142 



The: Story of My Life. 



ments with the steamboat lines to carry our passengers for 
Richmond from Boston for half fare. We advertised largely 
in the religious and secular papers. This greatly helped us, 
and when the meeting opened there was a decided change in 
the attendance, and many of the cottages, that had not been 
opened for years, began to be repaired and opened. This 
meeting was a decided success in every respect. We took 
enough in the collection to pay the workers. We had three 
preaching services a day besides three social services which 
usually closed with an altar service, with seekers for pardon 
and perfect love. It was grand and inspiring to hear the 
singing, praying and shouting. The new comers to the 
grounds bought up some of the closed cottages, had them re- 
paired and made ready for occupancy for the next meeting. 
The next year I was put on the board of directors, which 
place I filled for eleven years. I had charge of these meet- 
ings for fourteen consecutive years. We were enabled to 
have w T ith us such men as Dr. Steele, Dr. McDonald, Dr. 
Levy, Revs. Ladd, Munger, Wentworth, B. S. Taylor, Wilson, 
Norcross, Washburn, Pottle, Clifford, Jones, Powell, Albright, 
Sister Amanda Smith and scores of others who rendered us 
service as preachers and layman of faith and power. 

We soon planned to build a tabernacle, which we did at 
the cost of fifteen hundred dollars, the full amount was con- 
tributed by the people, in private or public contributions. 
They now have one of the best auditoriums in New England. 
Soon the cottages were all opened and the old debt paid en- 
tirely off and money in the treasury and old Richmond had be- 



Camp Meeting Work. 



143 



come, in the language of Dr. Ladd, Presiding Elder of the 
district, "A great spiritual centre for Maine." 

Ithiex Faij,s, Johnson, Vt. 

This camp meeting ground is situated about two and a 
half milesi from the village of Johnson on the road leading 
from Johnson to Waterville, and on the banks of the Lamoille 
River, making it one of the prettiest spots for such a meeting 
in all Vermont. It has often been asked me how I came to 
put this meeting in here. I have always believed it was or- 
dained of God so to be and He chose me to establish it. I was 
holding meetings at Johnson as an evangelist in the year 1898 
and heard much about the lower falls, as they were then called 
One day I went to Waterville to visit among the people there, 
who had been a help in the meetings that I had held there the 
year before, and when I reached the place that led to the falls, 
I got out and crept through the thick underbrush and briers, 
over the top of the ledges that led to the turbulent stream as 
it rushed through the gorge, and stood amazed at this grand 
handiwork of God. I then took the path back to the top of 
the hill, and then down the hill to where now stands our taber- 
nacle and auditorium. As I stood there a voice seemed to say 
to me, "Here's a good place for a camp meeting." This was 
the first time that the idea had entered my head. I talked it 
over with the friends at Waterville, and on returning to John- 
son, I inquired who owned those premises, and was informed 
it belonged to the Philbrick heirs, and Mr. E. E. Rice. I 
sought them out and after a few weeks they gave me im- 



The Story of My Life. 



mediate possession of the grounds. Bro. Rice, who with his 
wife and elder son, had been converted in my meetings at 
the village, gave me a deed of the land he donated. I felt the 
Lord was in it and so one night at one of the services I an- 
nounced that I wanted to plan to have a camp meeting on those 
grounds that summer and asked for volunteer help to clear 
them. I appointed a day and over ninety men came armed 
with scythes, bush hooks, shovels, axes, forks, bars and rakes, 
and some came with work teams. Before we struck into the 
work I called all together and we had prayer and asked God's 
blessing upon these laborers and their labors. We divided 
the men into three companies under the following leaders : 
Joel Hodgkins, David Holdridge and Lewis Fletcher. The 
battle was begun at the upper end of the Rice piece and before 
night we had that piece of wild land transformed into a veri- 
table park. What a change from one day's work. We all 
were satisfied, but we all had a mind to work. I have thought 
many times since if we could get the church to take hold and 
work for souls as these men did that day to clear that ground 
what wonders could be wrought, for there were Baptists, 
Congregationalists, Seven Day Adventists, Methodists and 
Catholics, rich and poor, all working for the one great object, 
the establishment of a camp meeting. A few days later we 
had another "Bee" and some forty came and we made a good 
beginning on the Philbrick end of the grounds. The follow- 
ing May I drove with my family from Douglas, Mass., to 
Johnson, Vt., two hundred and eighty miles, pitched a tent, in 
which we lived for weeks, until we could build a cottage. I 



Camp Meeting Work. 



145 



did not have any money to put into this enterprise and the 
people knowing it, began to bring in lumber from towns, 
twenty miles away, and help came from all around the town 
and as far away as S wanton and gave their services. The 
work was pushed by this volunteer labor until the camp was 
opened in August, 1899. Bro. Hodgkins befriended us many 
times and in various ways, forwarding money several times 
as needed. We worked shoulder to shoulder as brothers. He 
took a personal interest, and his death to me meant a great 
deal, and each year I still miss his familiar face and form from 
among us. It was a great day when the trains began to stop 
and discharge the passengers and baggage at the Ithiel Falls 
Camp station, which is about one mile from the grounds. 
Every train brought in new tenters and workers from far and 
near, and when the first service opened we had the large tent 
full and by Saturday night we had every tent and available 
cottage room filled, some had to sleep in the barn and many 
were invited home with friends, who opened their hospitable 
doors to these new comers. The first Sunday was a bright, 
clear day, and at the first service in the morning, the tent was 
filled and we enjoyed a grand love feast, such as the people of 
this country had not seen before. At the preaching service 
we gathered in the leafy tabernacle in front of the preacher's 
stand, which had been seated to accommodate fifteen hundred 
people, it being full and many standing. The preacher of the 
hour was Dr. Wm. McDonald, of Boston, President of the 
National Camp Meeting Association. This first message cer- 
tainly came from God, and such an altar service followed with 



146 



The: Story of My Lifd. 



seekers for pardon and some for perfect love. One of these 
was David Holdridge, a man nearly seventy years old, who 
afterwards became one of my staunch helpers and advisers. 
At noon we dined the people under a tent that had been given 
by Dea. G. M. Morse, of Putnam, Conn. At two o'clock Rev. 
B. S. Taylor, the Cyclone Evangelist, from Mooers, N. Y., was 
the speaker, and the people thought before he got through 
that a veritable cyclone had struck them, for he swept the 
deck with a scathing discourse and arraignment of sin that 
they had scarce ever listened to before. The crowd was so 
larg*e that they filled the ground and some could not get near 
the preachers' stand. The hitching ground was filled with 
teams, and horses were hitched beside the road for a mile or 
more each way from the camp. Some of the people had 
driven thirty-five miles to attend the meeting. Dea. Morse 
led a meeting at 6 130 which was a blessing to all that attended. 
At seven the preaching was in the tent, but it would not hold 
the people, and did not close until about eleven o'clock. There 
were a score of seekers at the altar for prayer. This first 
meeting on the Ithiel Falls camp ground was pronounced by 
all as a great success. The people largely lodged in tents, 
and we made what I call Vermont mahogany bedsteads out of 
rough timber, fitted on good springs and straw ticks. We 
did not have a large attendance during the week, but on both 
Sundays hundreds attended, and many who never hear the 
Gospel during the year attend this camp meeting. This meet- 
ing has grown from year to year and God has wonderfully 
blessed it, set His seal upon it by saving and sanctifying many 



Camp Meeting Work. 



147 



at its altars, who return at these yearly feasts to tell their ex- 
perience and to do good and to get good. 

Martha's Vineyard, Mass. 

I have labored at the Martha's Vineyard camp meeting 
for years, with Dr. W. V. Morrison, as the leader. This is 
an old historic ground in the history of Methodism, and some 
of our most noted Divines have proclaimed the truth from its 
stand and have witnessed great results as God put His seal 
on the preached Word. One year the committee asked me to 
bring a large tent from Douglas, Mass., and hold the social 
services in it, and see if we could have such a meeting as out- 
fathers used to have. We did and pitched it beside the taber- 
nacle and the results will never be forgotten by those who at- 
tended. Dr. Morrison asked me why they could not have 
such great meetings in the tabernacle as was held under the 
tent. I told him to put straw into the tabernacle, go in on the 
old-fashioned lines, and God would bless them and he would 
find that the people would come and get saved. He did so 
and the results were certainly satisfactory. On Sunday there 
were more people than the tabernacle could accommodate and 
Dr. Morrison asked me to hold an overflow meeting in the 
skating rink. We did and Mr. Winslow, the proprietor, told 
us he would have his band furnish the music. It was estimated 
that fully fifteen hundred people crowded into the rink and at 
the close of the meeting there were twenty-five forward to the 
altar for some definite work. Among the seekers was a very 
wealthy lady from New York, who was spending the summer 



148 



The: Story of My Life. 



at the Vineyard, and got gloriously saved. The next day I 
took a walk up on the Bluff and met a woman, she came up to 
me, spoke to me, and took me by the hand. She saw at once 
that I did not recognize her, so said : "I see that you do not 
know me, and I do not wonder, but I am the woman who was 
saved in the rink yesterday." I certainly was taken back for 
before me stood a very plainly dressed woman instead of the 
one of yesterday, who was in rich, gaudy attire. I gave her 
a word of cheer and bade her not to be ashamed of the Gospel 
and its power to save. She went back to her home church in 
New York City and stood as a witness for what God can do 
for a soul that will fully trust Him. 

Yarmouth, Mass. 

The Old Yarmouth Camp Ground on Cape Cod was noted 
for being an old storm centre for salvation. There used to be 
great crowds in attendance and the ministers witnessed fruit 
from their labors. I remember one Sunday when the audi- 
torium was crowded that Bro. D. J. Griffin and myself got 
permission to hold a meeting down by the depot. We bor- 
rowed a lumber wagon and used it for a stand and I preached 
a sermon from the text : "How shall we escape if we neglect 
so great salvation ?" At the close of the sermon several asked 
prayers, and we invited them right forward to the cart, as the 
altar. They came and many of them found Christ. I re- 
member seeing a young man kneeling at the cart wheel, earn- 
estly praying, and in a few minutes came out very bright into 
the light. We gave him words of encouragement and to-day 



Camp Meeting Work. 



149 



he is preaching the Gospel in the Congregationalist Church at 
Quechee, Vt. — Rev. O. W. Eldridge. 

Summit Grove, Penn. 

I attended the National meeting at Summit Grove, Penn., 
one year. Rev. J. S. Inskip asked Bro. Griffin and myself 
to take charge of a meeting at the stand and we did so, 
There were a very few there and we had no one to play for 
us and so asked for a volunteer, and a young lady presented 
herself and played and sang for us. The meeting was very 
small but we went on as if we had a thousand and at its close 
gave the invitation to seekers to come to the altar and seek 
the Lord. I must say that we did not think that a soul would 
come, there were such a few there, but to our surprise the 
organist arose and presented herself at the altar as a seeker. 
She was the only one but we got down and prayed and she 
prayed and she was saved through and through. God put 
His seal on her and chose her for an empty vessel to water 
His flowers. She became a very successful evangelist and 
was known as Grace Wiser Davis. To God be all the glory, 
forevermore. 

Time and space forbid me going into detail concerning 
the many camp meetings I have attended, but will say that 
I have received many a spiritual uplift at such meetings. I 
have attended camps at the following places one or more 
times each : Poland, Richmond, Old Orchard, North Anson, 
Livermore, Eastport, Bunker Hill, in Maine; Epping and 



150 



The: Story of My Lira. 



Alton Bay, in New Hampshire; Fair Haven, Northfield, 
Sheldon, Morrisville, Silver Lake, Taftsville and Johnson, in 
Vermont; Sterling, Douglas, Yarmouth, Hamilton, Martha's 
Vineyard, Rock, Cadman's Neck, Hebronville, Dudley and 
South Framingham, in Mass. ; Portsmouth, in R. I. ; Willi- 
m antic and Eastford, in Conn. ; Mooers, Richland, Round 
Lake and Carmel Grove, in New York ; Pitman Grove, N. J. ; 
Landersville, Dimmock, New Castle, Genesee Forks and Sum- 
mit Grove, in Penn. ; East Liverpool and Carrolton, in Ohio ; 
Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, and Woodstock, N. B. 



CHAPTER XI. 

Recent Experiences and Summary. 

I want to speak of my first and only pastorate. It was 
at the beautiful village of Johnson, Vermont, where is situated 
the State Normal School, also there are three churches in 
the place. I had been called by this people to finish out an 
unexpired term of eight months of a retiring pastor. I 
decided to take the pastorate, and began my work in the 
Methodist Church in September, 1901. I did not find it in 
a very spiritual condition. They had a church and parsonage, 
the latter having just been given them by Sister Luanda 
Dodge, but they were both out of repair, so we began at 
once to make necessary repairs in the parsonage to get it 
ready for occupancy. The ladies furnished the parlor very 
comfortably for a country charge. They had voted to build 
a barn before I reached them, so after a few weeks of labor 
the barn was up. We began at once to work for the sole 
good of this people. The class-meetings were almost for- 
saken, but the class-leader, Brother S. Stebbins, was a godly 
man. A real old-fashioned Methodist. We always would 
find him and his faithful wife present, and many times only 
a few beside them. They came a long way to meeting, but 



152 



The: Story o£ My Lift. 



we always expected to see the old white horse coming around 
the corner as sure as Sunday morning dawned, unless sick- 
ness prevented and that seldom happened. We had preach- 
ing Sunday morning and every other Sunday afternoon at 
Waterville, seven miles away. The Wednesday and Sunday 
evening prayer meetings were not very well attended and 
those that did come were mostly ladies. We visited and 
prayed from house to house all through both towns. In a 
number of homes they told us that a pastor had not called in 
years, and in two or three places a minister had not been in 
their home for over fifteen years. We enjoyed this and have 
often thought the success on the charges was the result of 
this visitation rather than the -preaching. We prayed for 
victory and had the pleasure in a short time to see the people 
begin to come in, and in a very few weeks we had a good at- 
tendance. At the end of eight months the Quarterly Con- 
ference asked the Presiding Elder to have me reappointed as 
the pastor. The year had been a success at both ends of the 
charge. It had been so marked a work of grace that Bishop 
Warren, who presided at the Conference at Northfield, said 
that there had been more souls saved at Johnson and Water- 
ville than in any other charge in the Conference, and it was 
one of the smallest charges. The next year was also marked 
with success and victory. We had some hard problems to 
solve, and many times were tried with false brethren and 
sisters, but in spite of all God was with us and that to bless, 
Amen. We had a large number of additions to the church 
and the finances were in excellent condition, and the vestry 



Recent Experiences and Summary. 153 



was crowded to the doors on Sunday evenings. At the end 
of this year, the Quarterly Conference voted to ask the Pre- 
siding Elder to again return me, which he did. We were 
obliged to buy more seats to accommodate the people at 
the Sunday evening prayer meeting. The young people 
crowded in and we had a good winter and some got saved. 
I would like to have returned the next year and expressed 
myself so. The Fourth Quarterly Conference, that met in 
February, invited me to return, but some undue influence was 
brought to bear upon the Bishop and when the appointments 
were read I was left without a charge, and a family of seven 
dependent upon me, without any visible means of support. 
This was the greatest test of my church loyalty that I had 
ever received, but God gave me grace and opened a way I 
knew not of, bless His Holy name, forever. He says "My 
grace is made perfect in weakness." The judgment morn 
will reveal all these things that we cannot understand. I am 
willing to leave it with Him who hath said: "Vengeance is 
mine ; and I will repay." "Be not overcome of evil, but over- 
come evil with good." 

In the fall of 191 1 I began my evangelistic work with 
Rev. Felix Powell at Berlin, N. H. We have had several 
minglings together and God has given us a marvelous work 
each time. I pray God to keep him, my spiritual son, in the 
narrow way, and spare him for many years of work and bless 
him as in the years passed. He is a tireless worker, a fear- 
less proclaimer of the Word, and a staunch supporter of the 
Methodist Church. 



154 



The Story otf My Lira. 



I then labored with Rev. F. McNeil in Chester, Maine. 
This people worshipped in a school house but the people had 
talked of building a church, and the pastor had received dona- 
tions of land, lumber and work. Without a dollar in sight 
he went to work to lay the foundation of a church. When 
I arrived they had the walls up. We organized "Bees," and 
the men came for days and days, and before I left it was 
shingled and we held some of the meetings in it, without 
windows or doors. God was with us from the first and 
many were saved, and a lasting work done among the lumber- 
men. Sometimes they would come afoot eight miles down 
the mountain to attend the meetings. It did us good to see 
those rough men asking the way of salvation. It was a very 
interesting work. I went up to their lumber camp twice and 
spent the entire day with them. One night, near the close 
of the meeting, I pleaded the cause of the church, and we 
raised three hundred and twenty dollars toward the build- 
ing. They dedicated it a Baptist Church, and Bro. Fred 
McNeil was a Presbyterian minister and I a Methodist. I 
shall praise the Lord forever that I ever went to Chester, 
Maine. 

My next call was from Rev. C. O. Perry at Gorham, 
N. H., in the Methodist Church. Bro. Perry is another of 
my spiritual sons. He is certainly loved by his people and 
respected in the community. We had seekers nearly every 
night, and the pastor wrote me that he had received thirty- 
two on probation and was expecting as many more in a few 
Sundays. 



Recent Experiences and Summary. 155 



My next battle-field was at the Methodist Church in 
Manchester, N. H., with Rev. E. E. Reynolds. The work 
here was victorious. I was reminded so many times of the 
results of revivals in my early ministry. We had an old- 
fashioned revival. There were seekers at every service but 
one, and sometimes the altar would be full from end to end. 
The majority of the converts were young men and there was 
one man over seventy years of age that was saved. When a 
person goes through life without Christ and then seeks salva- 
tion at that age it is a miracle. I speak of him in Chapter 
IX, on "Miracles of Grace." Brother Reynolds was a 
blessed man to labor with and when he prayed he believed 
that God would hear and answer prayer. I enjoyed the work 
with him very much and shall always look back on it as one 
of the green spots in my evangelistic work. 

At Holden, Vt, I labored with Rev. G. Wyman in the 
Wesleyan Methodist Church. It was a beautiful little town, 
back from the railroad, and nestled in among the mountains. 
Many of the members enjoyed the blessing of perfect love, 
and although they have had a struggle for years to main- 
tain this work, God has helped them and they are still on top. 
While I was there it was very cold and stormy. The people 
would come for miles through the bitter cold and the storm 
and the Lord would bless us and we would have a grand 
meeting and souls saved. 

I labored with a Baptist Church in Buckfield, Me., with 
Rev. F. M. Lamb. There are three churches in this town 
but two of them are closed. It is not a strong church and 



156 



The Story of My Life 



the work went very slow and only a few were saved. Buck- 
field is one of the old towns of Maine, and they have sent 
out some very able men. One of them became Governor of 
Massachusetts — Hon. John D. Long. He opened his first 
law office in this town in the ell of the house where he was 
born and at this time his old sign hangs where he hung it 
years ago. 

In closing up this book of my labors up to the present 
time and after forty busy years in the work, I take a look 
backward and can see many things that I have said and done 
that was not for the glory of God, and have shed many bitter 
tears, but know they are all under the blood. If I were 
allowed to go back and try it all over again, I am sure many 
things would be different, and still I might make a failure 
of it. I will thank the Lord for the bright places, and that 
all my life has not been in vain. I shall live through the 
lives of those that have been saved in my meetings and that 
I have had the privilege of pointing to the Lamb that 
taketh away the sins of the world. Some have entered the 
ministry and the missionary field and as they mould lives and 
mark destiny, my influence, through them, is passing on. 
The Scripture says : "He being dead yet speaketh." I ex- 
pect to labor for the Master many years, and then to sweep 
through the gates into the New Jerusalem, bow before my 
Saviour and worship Him, with the redeemed, and tune my 
harp, of a thousand strings, and sing praises unto His glor- 
ious name forever and ever for what He has done for a 
sinner like me. 



Recent Experiences and Summary. 157 



I have not had much to say about my home life so will 
just mention a few things here. I was not married until 
late in life having the care of my aged father and mother 
and an invalid brother. I first met my wife at the Douglas 
camp meeting, and was attracted to her by her singing and 
her spiritual life and after a few years we were married. 
We were married in the Winthrop Methodist Church, Rox- 
bury, Mass., by a former shop-mate, Rev. C. L. Goodell, D. D., 
now pastor of the Calvary Methodist Church, New York. 
My wife accompanied me in the evangelistic work for a 
few years and was a great help to me, especially in the sing- 
ing and the altar work. God blessed us with four children, 
three boys and one girl. Three of the children were born in 
our cottage on the Douglas camp ground and one in Ver- 
mont. Our oldest child died before he was two years old. 
Our daughter, Evelyn, started out with us in the work when 
she was six weeks old. She has been to California twice, and 
has attended fifty-seven camp meetings. She was converted 
at the tender age of four, and at six I baptized her in the 
Lamoille River, and I want to say right here, I never bap- 
tized a person that I felt was any better fitted for baptism. 
We are praying that God will keep her humble and lowly and 
will use her in His vineyard somewhere. My two boys have 
never made a profession but we are patiently waiting and 
praying for them to surrender themselves to Christ that they 
might be used of Him for the furtherance of the Gospel. 

The following are the names of those that have been 
converted in my meetings and have either entered the ministry 



158 



The Story of My Life. 



or the missionary field. There are a few more that I can 
recall but cannot think of their names, but the Lord knows: 

C. L. White, D. D., at Woonsocket, R. I. ; Wallace Brown, 

D. D., at Chittenanago, N. Y. ; Lyman J. Horton, at Bristol, 
R. L; Felix Powell, at Brunswick, Me.; Oscar C. Perry, at 
Madison, Me.; Mr. and Mrs. Fred Dunnell, Mr. and Mrs. 
Harry Clampett, and Nellie F. Guild, all at North Attleboro, 
Mass. ; W. Sherman Thompson, at Genesee Forks, N. Y. ; 
Claire Ames, at Minneapolis, Minn. ; George Westcott, at 
Waterville, Vt. ; Mrs. Grace Wiser Davis, at Summit Grove, 
Penn. ; Mattie Curry, at Stoneham, Mass. ; Ed. A. Brownell, at 
Quarryville, Conn.; C. C. Phelan, at Portland, Me.; L. W. 
Adams, at East Templeton, Mass. ; Augustus Corliss, at 
Yarmouth, Me. ; Earl W. Bigelow, at South Framingham, 
Mass. ; O. W. Eldridge, at Yarmouth camp ground, Mass. ; 
Prescott Jernigan and Chas. Fisher, at Edgartown, Mass.; 
Peter Dion, at Douglas camp meeting; Herbert R. Titus, at 
East Douglas, Mass. ; Rollin H. Stebbins, Henry C. Stebbins 
and Everest Stebbins, at Johnson camp ground, Vt. ; Howard 
Crydenwise, at Kingston, Penn. ; A. W. Atwood, at Dover, 
Vt. ; Frank Howard and Charles Beale, at Willimantic, Conn. ; 
Warren Huff, at East Douglas, Mass.; Herbert M. Rock- 
well, at Taftsville, Vt. ; Robert S. Tucker, at Westfield, Mass. ; 
F. C. Adams, at Chatham, N. Y., and Harry Birch, at New 
London, Conn. 

I have also held meetings in the following places: In 
Massachusetts: Sudbury, Maynard, West Brookfield, Heath, 
Charlemont, Townsend, Blandford, Rowe, Byfield, New Bed- 



Recent Experiences and Summary. 159 



ford, Worcester, Newburyport, Barnstable, Provincetown, 
Hyanis, Martha's Vineyard, Dudley, Edgartown, Lunenburg", 
Fitchburg, West Fitchburg, Acushnet, Marston's Mills, Pep- 
peral, Orange, Hudson, South Framingham, Clinton, Stur- 
bridge, Haverhill, Lawrence, Lynn, Chester, Middleboro, 
Ayer, Waltham, Everett, Granville, Milford, Southampton, 
Lowell, East Boston, Watertown, Somerville, Dorchester, 
Fall River, Cadman's Neck, North Attleboro, Waverly, Stone- 
ham, Salem, Peabody, Maiden, South Deerfield, Bond's Vil- 
lage, Medway, Easthampton, Palmer, Three Rivers, Douglas, 
Dana, New Salem and Prescott. In Maine: Westbrook, 
Damariscotta, Portland, Yarmouth, Richmond, Gardner, 
Randolph, Rumford, Mattawamkeag, Madison, Skowhegan, 
Readfield, Brunswick, Bath, West Bath, Lewiston, Au- 
burn, West Paris, Long Island, Rumford Falls, Au- 
gusta, China, South China, Bangor, Biddeford, Kennebuck- 
port, Kennebunk, Waterville, Oakland, Chester, South 
Portland, Palermo, Buckfield, Poland, Eastport, North 
Anson and Livermore. In New Hampshire : Suncook, 
Tilton, Exeter, Berlin, Gorham, Lebanon, Manchester 
and Milford. In Vermont: Waterville, Johnson, Bingham- 
ville, Westford, Milton, Sheldon, Swanton, St. Albans 
Bay, Colchester, Gouldsville, Bondville, Williamsville, 
Dover, Underhill, Bakersfield, Lowell, Montgomery, Morris- 
ville, Worcester, Stowe, Brandon, Pittsfield, East Arlington, 
Essex, Essex Junction, Perkinsville, Alburg, Holden, Wood- 
stock, Amsden, Hyde Park, Craftsbury and Wardsboro. In 
Rhode Island : Woonsocket, Providence, Newport, Block 



160 



The: Story of My Life. 



Island, Pawtucket, Pascoag, Westerly, Bristol, East Green- 
wich, Arlington, Narragansett Ferry and Kingston. In 
Connecticut: East Hampton, Quarryville, Willimantic, South 
Manchester, North Manchester, Putnam, New Haven, New 
London, Bridgeport, Niantic, Moodus, Eastford, East Thomp- 
son and Woodstock. In New York: Richland, Yonkers, 
Port Jefferson, Perry St., N. Y., Rochester, Chatham, Syra- 
cuse, Clocksville, Chittenanago, Factoryville, Genesee Forks, 
Pottsville, Union, Binghamton, New York City, Greene, 
Whitney's Point, Millford, Oswego and Spring Valley. In 
Penn. : Wilkesboro, Scranton, Pittston, Kingston, Nanticoke, 
Montrose, Bradford, Tuckhannock, Wellsville, Philadelphia, 
Ulster and Monroeton. In Ohio : East Liverpool, Carrol- 
ton, Cincinnati and Dayton. In California: Los Angeles, 
East Los Angeles, Boyle Heights, Pasadena, Ontario, San 
Pedro, Peru, Fresno, Ventura and Lincoln Park. Minne- 
apolis, Minn.; Woodstock, N. B.; Yarmouth, Nova Scotia; 
Baltimore, Maryland. In Oregon: Tualatin, Oswego, 
Beverton, Boring, Amity, Carrolton and McManville. 



CHAPTER XII. 



SERMONS. 

"Wc\z $lbx&tzt ts tame atto tallettj for tl\tt~ <As saott as slje 
Ijeara tljai, stje arose qmcfelg attb came uttto tjtnu" IJaljn 11 z 28~ 

Lazarus, Martha and Mary were intimate with Christ 
in his ministry, and he often went to their home. Jesus had 
gone away from Jerusalem, a two days' journey, to do a little 
work for God, and a messenger comes and says, "Him whom 
thou lovest is sick." And after abiding there two days He 
said to His disciples "Lazarus sleepeth; but I go that I may 
awake him out of sleep." And then Jesus plainly tells them 
that Lazarus is dead and that He is glad for their sakes that 
He was not there, that they might believe, adding "Let us go 
unto Him." The disciples reminded Him how He had been 
driven out of the city, but He showed them it was time for 
earnest work. So they journey towards the house of Lazarus 
and Martha, when she hears they are near, comes out to meet 
Christ, crying, "If thou hadst been here my brother had not 
died." He tells her that her brother shall rise again, and 
she avows her belief in the resurrection, one of the most 
glorious doctrines of the Bible. Christ tells her that if she 
can believe she shall see the glory of God, and Martha runs 



162 



The: Story of My Life:. 



to Mary and cries out, "The Master is come and calleth for 
thee." How cheering- the news must have been to the weep- 
ing sister! Friend, it ought to be cheering news to you 
to-day that the Master cometh and calleth for thee. It re- 
quired moral courage for Mary to heed the call. She might 
have said, "Let him come here if he wants to see me," or 
"Why did he not come before ?" Friends, some of you to-day 
hear the spirit knocking at the door of your heart. How you 
have trembled sometimes under the weight of sin and the 
sense of your responsibility to God ! But you did not heed 
the call. Or we might imagine Mary saying, "I want to 
see Jesus, but I don't want to leave my friends." My friend, 
you have something to do, not simply to wait for Christ. 
Some of you have heard the voice of God calling and you 
say, "shall I leave my friends, break away from my associ- 
ations, to be a Christian?" The Master calleth for thee. How 
Mary's heart bounded. I see her spring to her feet and run 
to meet Christ, falling at his feet. I see the tears fall on 
the cheek of Jesus as He listens to her sorrowful story. Then 
He asks where they have laid Lazarus, and going to the tomb 
calls the dead man forth. 

"As soon as she had heard that she arose quickly." Every 
person who hears the voice of God ought to immediately 
comply; repent of their sin and follow Jesus. The Master 
calleth. What does He call you to do? He calls you to 
repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and He has a 
right to demand it. You are a sinner to-day without hope. 
There is no other name by which you can be saved than that 



Sermons. 



163 



of Jesus, and you must repent if you would enter heaven. 
Repentance means godly sorrow and turning- away from sin. 
Whereas you have been going in paths contrary to the will 
of God, you must turn your back on sin and say, With God's 
help I'll follow the path that leads to heaven. I know it costs 
something. Some say it is only necessary to rise for prayers, 
to have a desire to be a Christian. I have heard ministers 
say a person only has to turn about. But it means more than 
that. A man may turn on his heel and make a long list of 
good resolutions and yet have no Christ in his heart. Simply 
a capture of a rebel in the late war did not change the rebel. 
Simply joining a church don't save a man. Many a man in 
the church to-day does not have saving faith in Christ. The 
Master calls on you as a member of the church to enter the 
path of holiness. He calls you into a highway cast up for 
the ransomed of the Lord. He calls you to a life of self- 
denial. Many think they haven't got to deny themselves, but 
the scripture says, "Deny thyself, take up thy cross daily and 
follow me." Daily, not weekly or monthly. Religion is not 
something to take off and put on like a garment. If you 
would have the favor of God you must be self-denying. And 
a person to get salvation must deny himself. If there is any- 
thing you make an idol of you must give it up. Sometimes 
people hold on to some little thing, and that little obstacle 
keeps them from salvation. If a woman makes an idol of 
her jewels she must give them up, and so of any indulgence. 
I do not wish to be understood as saying that a person cannot 
be a Christian and wear jewels. I think, however, that the 



164 



The Story of My Life. 



more piety a person has the less of that jingle will there be 
about them. 

God may call on you for a holy singularity. He calleth 
for thee to go among the outcasts of earth and work there 
for Him. Are you willing to deny yourself? "O," you say, 
"I want to sit in my home with ease." But He calls on you 
for a life of self-denial. I hear people say it is a cross to talk 
with people about religion ; but if you go into the work, asking 
God's help, it will soon become a luxury to you. "Well," says 
one, "I am willing to do what I can do just as well as not." 
But that is no sacrifice. A rich man might give $50 and 
practice no self-denial, while another person might have to 
practice self-denial to give a penny. And what is our self- 
denial after all when we compare it with that of Christ, who 
gave up the glory of heaven and coming to earth suffered 
and died on the cross ? We don't know anything about giving 
till it begins to scrape the butter off our bread. 

You that are here without Christ, how He has called you 
— called you through your dying mother or father perhaps. 
The Master has come to you by the dispensations of His 
providence. What ought you to do? You ought to rise up 
and come immediately to Him. He has called again and 
again ; often has He knocked at the door of your heart. What 
have you done ? Have you risen up quickly, or have you said, 
"I shall lose some friend if I come to Jesus?" Much de- 
pended on the ready compliance of Mary with her Master's 
request. My friend, the Master calls, and the salvation of 



Sermons. 



165 



your soul rests upon your compliance. Then come to Jesus 
now. 

®6m jgrnall or "Jgfotall Pegmnmgs attb |£a:rge ^noing*." 

The reason there were so many following Jesus at this 
stated time was to see the miracles that he performed — sight- 
seers. To-day people are just as anxious to follow the 
crowds as in the days of Christ for great multitudes followed 
Him. Christ said to his disciples when he saw so many fol- 
lowing Him: "Whence shall we buy bread that these may 
eat?" 

He knew they were after the eatables just the same as in 
the church to-day, people will go to church suppers, and the 
very next night the same members of the church are absent 
from the prayer meeting, and if there neither speak nor pray 
for Christ. Christ at this time set an example for us all and 
that was to give thanks for our food. He has taught us to 
break our barley loaves and tell the world what He has done 
for us. If we give we shall receive. 

Some men have not broken off a piece of their barley 
loaf for five, ten or more years and the loaf has grown musty, 
their testimony is "forty years ago God blessed me at such a 
place." They only need a fresh bake. If you have never 
experienced the blessing received by breaking your barley loaf 
you go out to-morrow and invite your neighbors and friends 
to church and to seek Christ and see if your own soul does 



166 



The Story oe My LiEE. 



not get warmed up. Many a man will thank you for speak- 
ing to him about his soul. 

The unconverted know whether we are in earnest or not. 
Perhaps your barley loaf is stale, but it will pay you to get a 
"fresh bake." We must be wise in winning souls, but when 
we go out prayerfully the Lord will bless us as he did those 
disciples for after they had broken and fed all they gathered 
up twelve basketfuls. 

"Plljat ts a matt proftiefr, tf Ije sljall gam i\\t foljole ftmrlo, attfr 
lose I|T0 oftm 301x1?" <i8ftatL IB: 26- 

This text brings before each one of us here an example 
in "profit and loss" what shall it profit us if we gain great 
riches, great honor, and lose our own souls? We may 
accumulate and accumulate and the more we get the more we 
want. It is natural to the human heart to be dissatisfied, and 
always wanting to add to the home, put in bay windows, 
piazzas, etc., and still dissatisfied. Many a beautiful home 
on the outside and furnished elegantly on the inside harbors 
unhappy hearts. Riches do not give peace of mind and soul 
comfort. "What doth it profit if we gain all and lose our 
souls?" 

We could draw pictures of the grasping nature and how 
disagreeable it makes men appear to their neighbors and how 
uncomfortable they are in themselves. We are taught to 
"lay up treasures in heaven where moth nor rust doth corrupt 
nor thieves break through and steal." Get ready to live for 
the hereafter. We are living at a rapid rate here, and neglect- 



Sermons. 



167 



ing the future. It will profit nothing if we gain it all here. A 
man will give all he possesses for health, but what will he 
give in exchange for his soul? You may gain riches, honor, 
pleasures, health and lose your soul. 

How little we estimate the value of our souls. What 
estimate do you put on your soul? When we close our eyes 
in death we can take none of these things with us, we must 
leave it all behind. Get ready for the eternity just ahead of 
you. 

'gxtvtstz : ^Ivtkt 14: IB, 19, 20. 

In the text a man makes a great supper and invites many, 
and then follows some of the excuses they sent in, for they 
"all with one consent began to make excuses. " We say what 
ridiculous excuses ; to think a man would buy a piece of 
ground and then go after buying it to see if it suited him ; and 
another says, he must prove a pair of oxen after he had 
bought and paid for them, and last of all the man says, "I 
have married a wife therefore I cannot come," he does not 
ask to be excused, but says he cannot come ; if he had been as 
attentive after he was married, as he was before, he would 
have taken the wife along with him, and enjoyed the feast. 
To-day our churches are largely attended by the women, our 
men have gone, and we miss them. Something must be 
brought to awaken them to their responsibility to Christ and 
His church. 

You say these excuses given in the Scriptures are so 
foolish, but let us see what excuses you are giving to-day 



168 



The Story otf My Lira. 



because you are not a Christian and see if they will stand the 
test, and if they are legitimate. One says "my business is 
such that I could not pursue it and be a Christian." If your 
business is as you say you ought to give it up, for no business 
is legitimate if you cannot follow it and become a Christian. 
Another excuse is "fear/' fear of the minister, of our neigh- 
bors, of the members of our family; another says: "I have 
to give up so much, such a coming down on my part." "I 
cannot give up my associations." "I could not live it in my 
own home." "There are so many hypocrites in the church." 
"I am as good as they are." "I will have to give up so much 
— theatres, dancing, and parties, etc." "I want to become a 
Christian but cannot start in a revival." "I cannot go to the 
altar." It pays to be true, to have no condemnation. Christ 
has promised to do exceedingly above all we can ask or even 
think. The Lord is with them that trust in Him and says : 
"Whatsoever we do shall prosper." 

"JJIofti sljall fot tztmpt tf fat neglect 00 great salfrattott?" ^ltb~ 2z2~ 

If we neglect in this life we shall reap the result of a 
neglected life. A business man may seem to prosper out- 
wardly, and then how often the next day we see the shutters 
up and door locked and a sheriff in charge. Why? Because 
he has failed, neglected to attend to his business. The 
machinist may neglect to oil his machine and by so doing 
spoils it and throws hundreds out of work for hours. The 
farmer to produce good crops must till the soil, feed it, ir- 
rigate, weed and cultivate. If he neglects this he loses the 



Sermons. 



169 



full value of his reaping. We cannot neglect our bodies and 
enjoy health. A little disarrangement of our heart and we 
are gone. We cannot abuse these bodies by excessive drink- 
ing, smoking or licentiousness without violating the laws of 
health: "If we neglect we shall reap." We cannot sow 
"wild oats" and expect to reap good ones. "If we sow to the 
wind we shall reap with a whirlwind." How shall we escape 
if we neglect? Many of our young people do not intend to 
go too far, but continually neglecting, fill untimely graves. 

If men holding responsible positions neglect their duty 
the law of the State holds them responsible, and we all say 
that is right. It ought to be so. 

If it is true in our temporal affairs and our physical life 
that if we neglect we must bear the result, what about our 
spiritual life? We ask you to become a Christian before it is 
too late, and you answer: "Not to-night," it is like the 
death knell to a soul. This continually neglecting your soul's 
salvation will cause you to be lost eternally. Do not neglect 
your salvation. "Christ is pleading with your poor soul. 
Why not to-night? "How shall ye escape if ye neglect so 
great salvation?" 



AUTOBIOGRAPHIES 




Rev. Charles L. White. D. D. 



MINISTERS 



Rev. Charts L. White, D. D. 

I shall always feel devoutly thankful for the message 
of salvation which God gave to Rev. I. T. Johnson to speak 
to me when I was a boy of thirteen in Woonsocket, R. I. 
I distinctly recall those early and vivid impressions and the 
call of Christ. I remember the sermon that he preached that 
night very well. It made such an impression on me. He 
told the story of the Prince of the Syrians going to Jordan, 
fifth chapter of II. Kings and the tenth verse. I had not 
attended any of the meetings until this night and it was the 
last time he was to preach there. As I listened I felt my need 
of Christ and that night, after the inquiry meeting, I went 
home and my mother and I knelt and prayed, and I made a 
full surrender to Christ. One of my sisters was converted 
at the same time and we both were baptized in a company of 
forty and united with the Baptist Church. My mother and 
older sister were Christians so we were not alone in the home. 
I have always been thankful that I had a praying mother. I 
felt a call to the ministry when I was about seventeen years 
of age, and obeyed the summons. I was graduated from 
Brown University in 1887, and the Newton Theological 



174 



The: Story of My Life. 



Seminary in 1890. Have served a few churches in the ca- 
pacity of pastor, also was elected the President of Colby Col- 
lege and left there to become Missionary Secretary of the 
American Baptist Home Missionary Society, a position I am 
holding to-day. 

Yours cordially, 

C. L. WHITE. 

New York, March, 1912. 

Rev. Wai^ace E. Brown, Ph. B., D. D. 

I was born in Chittenanago, N. Y., Oct. 30, 1868. In 
February, 1888, Rev. I. T. Johnson was invited to our church, 
by Rev. J. B. Foote, to hold a series of meetings, and under 
his preaching I was led to feel my need of Christ and gave 
myself unreservedly to Him, and I felt a call to the ministry 
soon after. Bro. Johnson came back on the day many of 
the converts were received into the membership of the church. 
I was among that number and the church gave me a license 
to exhort that day. The following winter I entered Cazenovia 
Seminary, became a local preacher and supplied some churches 
during my seminary course. I entered Syracuse University 
in 1894 and preached four years at Clockville and one year 
at Fayetteville, before joining the Conference. (Syracuse 
University conferred upon me the honorary degree of Doctor 
of Divinity in 1909). In 1897 I entered the Central New 
York Conference and took my first appointment at Olivet 
Church, Syracuse. I have filled pastorates at the following 



Rev. Wallace E. Browx, Ph. B., D. D. 



Autobiographies. 



175 



places : Onondaga Valley, Furman Street, Syracuse and 
Ithaca. God has wonderfully blessed my ministry here at 
Ithaca. We have built a hundred thousand dollar church 
edifice, and have it nearly paid for; have doubled the mem- 
bership of the church, having a membership of nearly nine 
hundred, and have conversions in our regular services right 
along. I preach the simple and old Gospel as best I can. It 
is a great Gospel to preach to the learned and unlearned, the 
rich and poor. It grows on me as the years come and go. If 
men will only receive it and live it, it will bring in the King- 
dom of God. Nothing else ever will. 

My Conference honored me, at its last session, by elect- 
ing me a delegate to the General Conference of 1912. 
Yours faithfully, 

WALLACE E. BROWN. 

Rev. R. S. Tucker. 

During the month of February, 1907, Rev. I. T. John- 
son was invited to hold a series of evangelistic services in 
the Westfield, Mass., M. E. Church, by our pastor, Rev. 
Charles Davis. I attended these meetings and under the 
preaching of this man was made to see that I was a lost boy 
without Christ. I groaned and writhed under conviction, and 
saw no relief for my sin-burdened soul, but by the way of 
the cross, I went forward to the altar as a seeker and in a 
very few minutes Christ spoke peace to my soul. 



176 



The Story of My Life. 



There were a large company of young people saved at 
this time and Bro. Johnson gave us such sound advice and 
excellent council, that the way seemed bright, with a hope of 
eternity in view with Christ. I remember of thinking at that 
time, what a joy it is to be the means of salvation to some 
lost soul. It was an inspiration to see the great victory that 
attended the banner of Christ in this worldly age, under his 
preaching. \ fj 

Since my conversion I have done much amiss, but God 
has ever been with me. I even grew cold in my experience, 
perhaps fearful that I must preach the Gospel, but on 
Thanksgiving night, of that same year, I promised the Lord 
I would be what He wanted me to be, say what He wanted me 
to say, and go where He wanted me to go. I soon began 
to hold meetings, telling of Christ's love to me and what He 
had done for me, and some success accompanied my efforts. 
Last summer I supplied in a suburban church in New York 
City. The Lord blessed me in the effort and success ac- 
companied my work there. There was no frigid church spirit 
in that summer's work. Ever since I decided to enter the 
ministry the Lord has attended to my temporal needs. I am 
now working my way through college, determined to enter 
the ministry. For financial support I am managing a tailor's 
shop, known as the "North College Press Room." Thus far 
I have not received any financial aid whatsoever. The extra 
w r ork hinders me somewhat in the pursuit of my studies, but 
somehow or other, at the end of the college year, I pass all 
right in my work. All praise to Him who hath saved me. 



Rev. L. W. Adams. 



Autobiographies. 



177 



Next year I will graduate from Wesleyan and intend then to 
go through some Theological school, if it is the Lord's will. 

Yours in Him, 

ROBERT S. TUCKER. 

Rev. L. W. Adams. 

I was born at Morrisville, Vt., and converted at East 
Templeton, Mass., Oct. 15, 1877, under the tender, winning 
preaching of that prince of evangelists, I. T. Johnson. At 
this time he was holding meetings with Rev. F. M. Miller, 
the pastor of the M. E. Church. I at once began to lead meet- 
ings and go out in the country districts, about my home 
church, and preach and hold meetings, under the pastor, who 
had baptized me and taken me into the church. The fall of 
1879 I entered Cushing Academy, at Ashburnham, Mass., 
taking the classical course, in preparation for college. Dur- 
ing the four years at Ashburnham I boarded myself and 
earned my way through the school by sawing wood, barter- 
ing, spading gardens, and any other kind of work I could find 
to do. My parents were poor, my father a mechanic, the pay 
was small, the family large, and previous to my conversion 
I was obliged to help support the home, going to work when 
I was about thirteen years of age. My father had a good 
education, so every evening I would study at home with him 
and thus managed to read and study many a choice work in- 
cluding all the school books necessary for admission to the 
Academy. I spent three years at Boston University School 



178 



Thk Story of My Life. 



of Theology, preaching the last two years of the course. I 
joined the New England Annual Conference in April, 1887, 
and after finishing the first tw T o years of study was ordained 
Deacon by Bishop W. F. Mallalieu, and in two years more 
was ordained Elder by Bishop Bowman. 

While a student at Ashburnham I was licensed, as an 
exhorter, by the Leominster Quarterly Conference. In 1884, 
while in the Theological school, I was licensed to preach as a 
local preacher. During the twenty-five years of my ministry 
I have served churches in Wilmington, Swampscott, Danvers, 
Maiden, Worcester, Fitchburg, Marlborough, South Framing- 
ham, Beverly and Lynn. I have always had the privilege of 
seeing souls saved on each charge. The churches have been 
repaired, pipe organs have been installed during my ministry. 
Rev. William Hook, of St. Paul's Church, Lowell, Rev. George 
Heath, of South Boston, and Rev. Elihu Grant, of Northampton 
are three of my boys. During my ministry I have traveled a 
good deal with my stereopticon on lecture trips and revival 
work, earning the name of "Stereopticon Evangelist." In 
191 1 Mrs. Adams and I spent the summer in Europe studying 
the people, the great churches, the work of our own church 
in Italy and other important places. 

We have two sons who are at work in the church and a 
daughter, ten years of age, who loves the church as we do. 

As ever yours, 

L. WILLIAM ADAMS. 

Lynn, Mass., Jan., 1912. 




Rev. C. O. Perky. 



Autobiographies. 



179 



Rev. C. O. Perry. 

I was born in Farmington, Me., and the story of my early 
life is not unlike that of many others who grew up without 
salvation. Several times in my boyhood days I was definitely 
moved by the Spirit of God to become a Christian, once when 
I attended what they called a home camp meeting, held in the 
Methodist Church in Skowhegan, Me., where I was then 
living. I do not remember a word of the sermon, not even 
the text, but at the close of the meeting a kind-hearted 
Christian man came along (the only person in the whole 
church who seemed to notice me), and with the tears running 
down his cheeks, put his arms around me and said : "God 
bless you, my boy, do you love Jesus ?" My whole being was 
stirred and my heart seemed drawn toward Christ, but went 
out from that meeting ignorant as to what I ought to do to 
find Christ, so that influence left me. From that time until 
I was nineteen years old I was not consciously moved to be- 
come a Christian, and then Rev. I. T. Johnson, the evangelist, 
came to Madison, Me., where I was then living, to conduct 
revival meetings, and I was led to Christ. 

During those days I never went to church only on special 
occasions, and then only to have a good time. My Sundays 
were spent with the boys fishing, hunting and every other kind 
of amusement that we could think of. A few days after the 
revival began some of my friends coaxed and teased me to 
attend the meetings and I ventured to go, and under Bro. 
Johnson's faithful preaching I went to the altar and sur- 



180 



The Story of My Life. 



rendered myself to Christ, for time and eternity. It has not 
been hard to live the Christian life, but joy all the way along, 
for I have had my Saviour with me. 

Soon after my conversion I had to learn several things, 
the first was that I needed a better education. I studied 
under private tutors and then went to the Maine Wesleyan 
Seminary, at Kent's Hill, took a four years' course and 
graduated. I soon learned that I must preach the Gospel, 
and did so, beginning in schoolhouses. In the year 1901 the 
Rev. C. A. Southard, our Presiding Elder, gave me a license 
to preach, and appointed me to the Industry and Stark charge. 
The two main features of this charge were: a lot of room to 
work in and plenty of fresh air. God gave us a gracious re- 
vival the first year I w r as there, and over thirty souls were 
converted. I can say with St. Paul: "Having therefore 
obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing 
both to small and great." 

Your spiritual son, 

C. O. PERRY. 

Berlin, N. H., 1912. 

Rev. W. S. Thompson. 

I was converted at the age of seventeen, under the 
preaching of Rev. I. T. Johnson, who was holding a series of 
meetings in an old forsaken cheese factory, at Genesee Forks, 
N.' Y. Soon after my entire surrender to the Master I felt 
a deep conviction that it was Christ's purpose that I enter the 




Rev. W. Siiekmax Thompsox, 



Autobiographies. 



181 



Christian ministry. Believing that He who had called me 
would sustain me in the service, I at once began to plan for 
an education. On Bro. Johnson's return to New England, I 
accompanied him, and entered the East Greenwich, R. L, 
Academy. This required a great struggle and much sacrifice. 
Through the kindness of friends, and my own efforts, I was 
graduated in four years ; spent three years in the Boston 
University, and one in Drew Theological Seminary. For 
several years I was a local preacher in the Methodist Church, 
but when I entered the ministry in full, I accepted a call to 
the Congregationalist Church in Marshfield Hills, Mass., 
where I was ordained, and passed a very successful year. I 
then served the Washington Street Church in Quincy, Mass., 
for two years. Here I enjoyed an unusually successful pas- 
torate and many united with the church. I then went to East 
Boston and became assistant pastor of the Maveric Church, 
with Dr. Smith Baker as pastor. Here the Lord blessed our 
labors and many were added to the church such as were 
saved. I felt called of God to accept a call to the First Con- 
gregationalist Church of Cliftondale, Mass., and although Dr. 
Baker and his people objected to my leaving them, I heeded 
the call and went. We were enabled to build a new parson- 
age, repair the church, and the entire workings of the church 
quickened and vitalized, and the pastor's salary increased in 
the five years that I remained with them. I next went to 
the First Church of Somerville, Mass. This was an old his- 
toric church, with a membership of between four and five 
hundred. My work here was extraordinary, for the first 



182 



The Story of My Life. 



three years fifty were added to the church each year. The 
attendance at all the services greatly increased; the prayer 
meetings became spiritual, the Christian Endeavor Society 
became the strongest in the city, and all the different organi- 
zations of the church were blessed and prospered; a heavy 
debt was paid, and some twelve hundred dollars put into 
improving the church edifice. At the beginning of the fourth 
year, with this church, my health began to break, and although 
I struggled on for several months, I was finally compelled to 
resign and take a rest. Since then my health has been so 
poorly that I have been unable to do efficient work and have 
been compelled to supply pulpits as opportunity offered. If 
I had a thousand lives, with good health, I would give them 
all to the ministry. It is a grand glorious work, and while 
the experiences are sometimes trying, the joys far exceed the 
sorrows. 

Yours heartily, 

W. S. THOMPSON. 

Somers, Conn., Feb., 1912. 

Rev. Lyman G. Horton, D. D. 

I was converted in Bristol, R. I., Jan. 25/1880, under the 
evangelistic labors of the Rev. I. T. Johnson, who was hold- 
ing a series of meetings in the State Street M. E. Church, 
Dr. W. V. Morrison, pastor. The meetings had been in prog- 
ress since the first day of the year and I had attended them 
from the beginning. As a boy of sixteen, I was held as by 



Rev. Lyman G. Horton, D. D. 



Autobiographies. 



183 



a spell. The night before my conversion the evangelist 
preached on the text: "Zaccheus, make haste and come 
down/' and the story of a very short man made a deep im- 
pression on a very tall boy. Hesitating over-long about start- 
ing that night, I went home to promise the Lord that if He 
would let me live until morning I would go to the first meet- 
ing and surrender. He let me live and I kept my part of the 
contract, although with much fear and trembling. 

January 26 was Sunday and the first meeting a prayer 
service at 9:00 a. m. I was there and when the invitation 
was given, arose and asked the people to pray for me. Deacon 
Morse, of Putnam, Conn., a man known far and wide for his 
spiritual ardor, was present for the day and he it was who 
drove me to the mercy seat in a chariot of fire! After the 
earthquake and fire were passed, I heard a still small voice. 
With the whisper of peace came the startling summons to 
service. I felt that I must preach, and, of course, was drawn 
to the career of an evangelist, for, was not my ideal preacher 
and worker, he who led me to Christ, an evangelist? 

Going down to my house justified, I told mother what had 
taken place. When I faltered something about wanting to be 
a preacher, her eyes filled with tears and she said : "My boy, 
I have been praying for this ever since you were born." Then 
she told me that I came into the world just as the church bells 
were ringing one Sunday morning, 1864, and that when she 
heard the bells she exclaimed, "He shall be a preacher," and 
now she felt the prophecy was being fulfilled. After this 
memorable series of meetings, led so successfully by Bro. 



184 



The: Story of My Life. 



Johnson, I was baptized and received on probation as one of 
a company of eighty. Later came full membership. The 
next fall I entered East Greenwich, (R. I.) Academy, to pre- 
pare for college, graduating in 1883. Partial courses fol- 
lowed in Wesleyan University and Boston University School 
of Theology. The fever of evangelism was beating in my 
blood and in an hour of blessed perspectives I yielded to the 
importunities of a greatly beloved presiding elder, who put 
the exigencies of his district above the destiny of man, and so 
by "a short cut" (that has necessitated many miles of weary 
plodding on mental roads) I found myself in the pastorate. 
The remainder of the story is briefly told. I have just com- 
pleted twenty-five years as a member of the New England 
Southern Conference. Pastorates have been held in Brock- 
ton, Mass., Arnold Mills, East Providence and Central Palls, 
R. L, New Bedford and Taunton, Mass., Willimantic and 
Stafford Springs, Conn. For four years it was my pleasure 
and pain to serve my Alma Master, East Greenwich Academy, 
as principal. During this period the Academy was practically 
rebuilt, among the improvements being a fine new dormitory 
for young women and a fully equipped gymnasium, both of 
brick. To the glory of God let me say that in every place 
conversions have occurred and in several pastorates notable 
revivals have been experienced. At East Providence, R. L, 
one hundred and seventeen adults were admitted to the church 
on one Sunday, and at Taunton, Mass., seventy-three were 
received at one time. May the gracious favor of the Head of 



Miss Nellie F. Guild. 



Autobiographies. 



185 



the Church ever attend both evangelist and pastor that at the 
last they may rejoice together! 

One of your gray-haired "boys," 

LYMAN G. HORTON. 

Stafford Springs, Conn. 

NdujS F. Guild. 

At a series of meetings held by the Rev. I. T. Johnson* 
in the Free Evangelical Church in North Attleboro, Mass., 
May, 1878, I was soundly converted to God. Surely "old 
things passed away and all things became new." A goodly 
number of young people were saved at that time and two 
months later thirty or more of us were buried with Christ in 
baptism. Not long after this it was my privilege to attend 
the camp meeting at Old Douglas, Mass., and then God gave 
me a clean heart. With this experience came an intense love 
for lost souls, and it was the longing desire of my heart to 
tell others what God could do for them. A few years later, 
while attending Dr. Simpson's meeting at Old Orchard, Me., 
and listening to the different missionaries, and seeing the 
pledges given, for the foreign field, I said : "Lord, I haven't 
money to give, but will give myself and go where You want 
me to go." Several years passed but there came a day when 
the test came, and the way opened for me to go to the British 
West Indies to sing the Gospel, and I said: "Yes, Lord." 
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Dunnell, who had been converted in the 
same revival meetings, under Bro. Johnson, received a call 



186 



The: Story otf My Life. 



at this time, and so on the second day of November, 1893, 
we left New York for our new field in the West Indies. We 
made our headquarters at Bassetene, St. Kitts. We started 
meetings in a hall, continuing them every night, except Satur- 
day. Large crowds attended and many gave their hearts to 
God. We began at once to ask God for larger quarters, and 
after taking a ten mile trip into the country — Mr. and Mrs. 
Dunnell and myself, our baby organ, in a donkey cart — we held 
open-air services on the way, with crowds of people attending 
and seeking salvation, we were convinced, that if we had 
means of conveyance to different parts of the Island, many 
more souls might be reached. God heard our prayer and sent 
us a "Gospel Wagon" and two small ponies, also means to 
build a chapel at Bassetene. We were now T able to reach over 
forty different villages, speaking to hundreds of people. As 
soon as I would begin to play and sing the people would drop 
their work and come running from every direction. We always 
had large attentive audiences, and many times the tears would 
course down their cheeks, as they listened to the singing and 
the Gospel message from Brother or Sister Dunnell. We 
gave away thousands of tracts, never having one refuse us. 
Men and women, working in the field, would drop their hoe 
and run a long distance to pick them up, others would fol- 
low on behind our wagon and beg us for one. We held serv- 
ices at the Leper Hospital every week and the larger part of 
them (sixty odd) gave their hearts to God and testified to 
full salvation, thanking God for their affliction, which was a 
means of salvation. It would melt your heart to hear them 




Rev. and Mrs. Fred Dunnell. 



Autobiographies. 



187 



sing, and when asked to raise their hands as a testimony, if 
God had saved them, some of them would raise only stumps, 
as their hands were eaten off at the wrist. This was really 
the most interesting part of my work to me. We started a 
children's service in the chapel with twenty or more children, 
and in a short time it increased to over two hundred. Some- 
times we would make two trips around the island (thirty 
miles) during the week and would hold three or four open- 
air services, and the people would come and stand for over 
an hour and listen very attentively, and always some seeking 
Christ. We also visited and held services on several of our 
neighboring islands. Bro. and Sister Bunnell and myself 
visited Nuis Stacis and Saba several times and a grand work 
was started. No steamer runs from St. Kitts to Saba, and 
the safest boat was only a small one-masted sloop, the 
"Muriel." Once, in crossing, it capsized and Sister Buckley 
and myself were mercifully preserved from a watery grave. 
Saba is 960 feet above the sea level, and after climbing to 
the top of it we were still at the "Bottom," for that was the 
name of the first town where we held services. We managed 
to reach all the country villages, some of them being 2200 
and 2400 feet above sea level. We rode horseback and a 
black man carried our baby organ on his head. Surely the 
ten years I spent on these islands were the most blessed of 
my life, although they were days of "peril by land and sea," 
yet God was with me and only eternity will reveal the many 
hundreds that sought God and were baptized by Brother 



188 



The Story of My Life. 



Dunnell in the sea, and how many really paid the price to go 
through. 

NELLIE F. GUILD. 
North Attleboro, Mass., July, 1912. 



Rev. Henry C. Stebbins. 

Being raised in a Christian home and under the influence 
of godly parents I became convicted of sin very early in life, 
and at times was almost willing to yield myself to God, and 
yet was held firmly in the clutches of the devil. In the year 
of 1903 the very sudden and untimely, but triumphant death 
of my father brought me face to face with the facts that 
previously had been but figure, and then it was that I settled 
in my mind that I would not longer delay. In the latter 
part of August, of the same year, I attended the Ithiel Falls 
camp meeting (O hallowed place) and service after service 
passed and I was still unyielding and not especially moved. 
It seemed to me that I was harder than usual and at last I 
began to wonder if God had not forsaken me, because of my 
neglect and disobedience. This aroused me and the awful 
fact of being eternally lost stood before me. Thus in awful 
agony I went to prayer. I prayed earnestly but saw no light 
and gained no victory. On the last Sunday, in the afternoon 
service, a powerful sermon was preached by Rev. Harlan P. 
Smith, of Boston, on the "Return of the Prodigal." This 
brought to me a ray of light, and at the altar call, I went 
hopefully to the altar, but as I knelt in the straw, a question 




Rev. Henry C. Stebbins. 



Autobiographies. 



189 



that had confronted me for years, came before me, "Will 
you preach the Gospel?" It was then that I realized more 
fully than ever before, that my soul's salvation was dependent 
upon a full surrender to God, and as one of old "I went 
away sorrowful," because I was not willing- to pay the price. 
I went out from that service, and no sooner had I left, than 
Satan came with new force, to tell me, that now I had lost 
my last and only chance. The more I tried to reason on the 
subject the more darkness and gloom settled about me, till at 
last I would have gladly exchanged places with any life- 
sentenced prisoner who had hope in God. I went back to 
the last evening service, Bro. Domina was the preacher, the 
altar was filled with seekers, shouts of victory were going 
up all over the camp, but I was still lost. The last altar 
service was closed and it was time to go home, just then Bro. 
Johnson arose to make a few closing remarks, and as he did 
so, such a mighty hush came over the place. His face was 
shining with the presence of Jesus, and at the same time 
great tear drops rolled over his cheeks. He was about to bid 
farewell to the great congregation, and to many for the last 
time. As soon as he was able to speak, he said, "I fear that 
some one is going away from here to-night, saying no to 
their last opportunity. Don't do it. Come now." I saw it 
was for me and I fell in real penitence and made a surrender 
and instantly light came. I arose to tell of my new found 
joy, and just as I finished God slew me and for two hours 
I lay prostrated under His mighty power. Words never 
can express, no human tongue can tell the experience of those 



190 



The; Story of My Life. 



two hours. The question then to preach the Gospel was no 
longer a cross but rather a privilege. In the spring of 1905 
I was licensed to preach and took my first charge at Tin- 
mouth, Vt., in the Troy Conference, where God gave me 
souls for my hire and proved to me He could use the weak 
ones that trusted in Him. After serving this charge for two 
years I heard and heeded a call to South Dakota, where I 
served a pastorate for three years, and again God kept His 
promise and used me to lead many souls to the fountain. 
Along during this time, in my religious life, my heart was 
hungering and thirsting after heart holiness, and as the days 
passed by, I became more and more convinced of my need. 
So many times I was reminded of the fact that the "old 
man" was still alive. I tried hard to master him and keep 
him out of sight, but all in vain, he still lived, and often 
times manifested himself to my shame and great sorrow. 
In the spring of 1910 I was engaged by Evangelist Isaac as 
his singer for a couple of meetings, and while associated 
with him, I came to see that to be wholly sanctified was not 
simply a privilege (as I had previously looked upon it), but 
a duty I owed to God and man, and that I could no longer 
remain in a justified state and be indifferent regarding this 
matter, so at once I became an earnest seeker. It was a 
hard struggle. To make a complete consecration I found it 
to be no small matter, and found myself at times in great 
agony over it, but at last the end came. I felt the flame as it 
purged through my soul, and it was then I understood the 
words of Jesus, when He said : "Blessed are the pure in heart 



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191 



for they shall see God," for I saw with a new vision. Since 
that blessed morning I have had perfect victory all the way, 
and am still rejoicing in the fullness of the blessing of the 
Gospel of Christ. Due to the ill health of my wife I was 
obliged to leave the western country and to return to the 
East, where the Lord opened a way for me at Ulster, Penn., 
in the Central New York Conference. I am serving my 
second year. Here again God has proven that He hears the 
cries of those that fully trust Him. All for Jesus, 

HENRY C. STEBBINS. 

Ulster, Penn., Jan., 1912. 

Rev. Earl W. Bigeww. 

As a small boy my ideals of manhood were high. I 
was reared in a home where the highest moral standards 
were upheld, and cared for by parents who kept their chil- 
dren in the best environment possible to them, yet at the age 
of sixteen or seventeen, as I began to mingle with the world 
— in the factory and socially — -I gradually drifted away from 
my ideals and my early home influences. 

Previous to the evangelistic campaign, which was held 
by Rev. I. T. Johnson in my home town December, 1907, I 
had felt very little interest in religion. Had not Mr. John- 
son come to South Framingham just when he did, undoubted- 
ly I would have been in the gutter by this time, so strong 
was the influence of evil over me. 

At the beginning of Bro. Johnson's meetings I was in- 
vited to attend. I had never been in revival services so ac- 



192 



The: Story of My Life. 



cepted the invitation out of curiosity. I shall never forget 
Bro. Johnson's sermon or the testimonies of my Christian 
friends. After I retired that night I went over again and 
again nearly everything that was said during the meeting. 
I could not sleep, I could not tell why, I now know that God's 
spirit was striving with me. I went the next night and again 
experienced the same feelings. However, this time they 
were not caused so much by the sermon as by what my friend 
said to me on our way home. He asked me why I did not 
take a stand for Christ. I replied that I did not think it 
was necessary for me to make a fool of myself before a 
crowd of people in order to become a Christian. He quoted 
to me the Scripture, "Whosoever shall deny me before men, 
him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven/' 
It was not necessary for him to say more. This verse alone — 
for I thoroughly believed the Bible — was food for my thoughts 
through another restless night. 

The next evening the break came. I do not remember 
very much of Bro. Johnson's sermon but during his address 
he referred to this passage, "Now is the accepted time, now 
is the day of salvation." I had heard this Scripture many 
times, but this was the first time it ever meant anything to 
me. When Mr. Johnson gave the invitation, I was the first one 
to rise, and on that 4th of December, 1907, I knew experi- 
mentally what it was to be born again. I gave my first testi- 
mony that evening in an after meeting and words are inade- 
quate to express the peace and joy that came into my heart 
as I voiced my first praises for my Saviour. 



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193 



Not for a moment since have I doubted as to the thor- 
oughness of the work in my heart. Surely 2nd Cor. 5:17 
was true in my conversion. Old things indeed passed away, 
and new things have continued to grow newer and brighter 
ever since. Had I not received the witness of the Spirit I 
could not have doubted my conversion because of the new 
desires which sprang up in my heart almost immediately, 
and the things in which I had delighted before were now 
very obnoxious to me. 

God's Spirit continues to bear witness with my spirit 
and tells me that I am His child. I am as conscious that I 
am saved as I am that I exist. God, Christ, and the Holy 
Spirit are as real to me as the temporal things that sur- 
round me. 

I was eighteen years of age when I accepted Christ and 
the four years which have passed since then have been the 
happy years of my life. Peace and contentment are as con- 
trary to my temperament as water is to oil. I knew little 
of either until Christ came into my heart, since then He has 
been teaching me continually what His peace is. I cannot 
help but compare it to the ballast in a ship which is down 
in the hull unseen by any one, yet it keeps the ship balanced 
and upright in the storm. With God's peace in our hearts 
no matter how hard the seas beat upon us, how fierce the 
winds may lash through the rigging, we will stand the storm 
and at last anchor in the harbor. I have made many mis- 
takes and have often grieved my Father but I have found 



194 



The Story of My Lira. 



Him always true to His word, "If we confess our sins, He is 
faithful and just to forgive us our sins." 

After I had been a Christian about six months God 
showed me that He had a definite work for me to do, even 
yet I do not know what it is, but I know that He has some 
place for me somewhere. As yet He has only told me to 
prepare. My education was very limited and I was pen- 
niless, but I told God I would fit myself for His work if He 
would open the way, and truly He did for the next Septem- 
ber an opportunity was given for me to enter Bethel Bible 
Institute at Spencer, Mass. I have been privileged to com- 
plete three years and expect to graduate next June. It has 
been necessary for me to work my way, but God has supplied 
all my temporal needs. In a slight measure I can compre- 
hend the meaning of Phil. 4:13. I have not had to borrow 
money and I can say that I owe no man anything save love. 

As I said before I do not know what God has for me, 
but my hand is in His and I will go where He wants me to 
go, knowing that the Lord Christ has gone every step of the 
way before me and has made the rough places smooth. 

This afternoon I have been going over my life since my 
conversion, and as I recall blessing after blessing which He 
has showered upon me my whole being thrills with joy. 
Never has my love for my Saviour been greater, and never 
has my determination been stronger to follow Him all the 
way. 

Yours in His service, 

EARL W. BIGELOW. 

Jan., 1912. 




Rev. Fbank C. Adams. 



Autobiographies. 



195 



Rev. F. C. Adams. 

When about fourteen years of age I began to feel my 
need of a Saviour, but owing to the fact that I had no 
religious training, and no one seemed to understand my need, 
I soon began to drift and to lead a sinful life. The company 
that I kept was not good. Sin had begun its work and I 
was its victim. At the age of twenty-two I found myself 
sad, worn, and weary and yet saw no way of escape. I 
finally heard a sermon preached by Rev. G. W. Miller, then 
pastor of the M. E. Church, at Chatham, N. Y. This was 
in the spring of 1894. I do not remember much of the ser- 
mon but the subject was "The Model Young Man." It 
seemed that the sermon was addressed to me. Conviction 
came to my heart; I wanted to live a different life. Mr. 
Miller said at the close of his sermon, if he could be of any 
help to any one, if they would come to him he would be 
glad to help them. I felt impressed to go to him for help 
many times, in the next few months, but did not. However, 
the Spirit of God was doing His work. Finally, in the fall 
of the same year, Bro. I. T. Johnson came to Chatham to 
help Bro. Miller in extra services. The meetings had been 
running for some time when one Sunday night I went to 
church. I had planned to go elsewhere, but God rules over 
all. Again the truth took hold upon me. I saw many of my 
associates who had turned to God, and I wished that I was 
among them. When the invitation was given, how I wanted 
to go but something seemed to hold me down. A young 



196 



The: Story of My Life:. 



man came and spoke to another next to me and it seemed to 
me if he had only spoken to me I would have gone. I did 
ask the Christian people to pray for me. I told my com- 
panions that I had got done using tobacco, and went from 
the house of God resolving that I would lead a different 
life. I called to see Bro. Johnson and promised him I would 
give myself to God. On Thursday night I went again to 
the house of prayer, with the purpose of giving myself to 
Christ. This I did, and He took me from that hour. I 
began to live a new life in Christ Jesus; my sins, which 
had been many, were all blotted out. God witnessed with 
my spirit that I was His child. I was very happy in my 
new-found joy. At the age of twenty- two I stood on the 
threshold of a new life. I knew but little of the laws of the 
Kingdom of Grace, but I had found a friend that would 
stick closer than a brother. Through conquest and victory, 
through failure and defeat, I learned the way of the cross, 
and love it with all my heart, and thank God that He saw fit 
to let me bear it. After my conversion I had a desire for 
other things, I was a changed man. I began to long to 
make something of myself. I wanted to go to school. A 
desire sprung up in my heart to help some one, and this de- 
sire ripened into a conviction that God had something for 
me to do. I finally felt and saw that Christ was calling 
me apart to the sacred office of the Christian ministry. I 
did not wish to say no, but having no education and not 
being strong physically, and having no means wherewith to 
get an education, I found the way hedged up, as I sup- 



Autobiographies. 



197 



posed. Backward and timid I hesitated, my path grew dark, 
clouds hung over me, the dews of Divine grace ceased to 
fall. Amid suffering and hardship the battle was fought, 
and I finally resolved, by the grace of God, I would begin at 
least to fit myself for the work He was calling me to. Amid 
opposition and discouraging circumstances I began to fit 
myself for the ministry. My path began to brighten at once, 
the clouds were lifted, the rains and dews of Divine grace 
began to fall again ; obstacles were removed, help came, and 
in a measure I was enabled to fit myself for the work. Be- 
yond my expectations God has helped me. About this time 
He gave me a companion to enter into sympathy with me in 
the life I was about to enter. I wish to say that my call to 
the ministry was as clear to me as my conversion. How 
this has comforted me in hours of trial and discouragement. 
I have already served eight years as a minister of the Gospel. 
I have had more of the good things of this life than what 
the world ever afforded me. Much more of Divine favor 
than though I had settled down to think that I could not 
follow my Lord as one of His servants. After four years 
in the ministry God helped me to see my need of full salva- 
tion. I had heard of this doctrine and thought I was living 
in the enjoyment of this blessed experience, I was so thor- 
oughly converted. Finally I was convinced that I was not 
a sanctified man and so sought it as a definite experience, 
a work of grace. On the nth day of December, 1908, in 
the quiet of my own home God came and cleansed my heart 



198 



The Story oi* My Lii a k. 



and everything seemed written all over with the word 
"sanctification." God had wonderfully blessed me before 
this many times, I was His and He marvellously helped me, 
but I have never been the same man since that hour. I have 
an inward victory, a peace, and a joy, not known before. 
The Bible has opened up to me, prayer has been a vital 
thing to me in my life and work. Here and there God has 
given me tokens of His favor upon my life work. Men 
have been saved and some have crossed over into the land 
of Beulah and have received perfect rest. The world with 
all its inducements, its pleasures, failed to offer anything 
that brought any lasting enjoyment or comfort. I owe it 
all to the blessed Gospel of the Son of God. For the few 
things that I have found it necessary to lay aside, in order 
that I might know God, walk and work with Him, I count 
them as nothing compared to what I have received from the 
hand of God. I love the way of the cross, and purpose to 
bear it patiently and lovingly until I can grasp the crown. 

I have written these words at the request of the author 
of this book and pray God that He may use them to help 
some one to find the way of life and to encourage some who 
are in the way. 

Your fellow traveler in the Way of Life, 

F. C. ADAMS. 

Plattsburg, N. Y., June, 1912. 




Rev. Felix Powell. 



Autobiographies. 



199 



Rev. Felix Powell, 
a twentieth century miracle. 

I first saw the light of day in the little town of Introdac- 
qua, Italy, in the year 1871. I was the seventh of nine chil- 
dren which blessed mother's home. At the age of four I 
began to work for my living. At the age of nine I was 
sold to a man for nine months for eight dollars. The next 
year the same story was repeated, but when the tenth year 
came I began to work independently. My father died when 
I was four years old, and we all had to do our best to help 
mother support the family. I worked at different trades 
until I came to America. Once I was employed by the 
telegraph company, not that I was telegraph operator, but 
that I dug holes in the ground into which poles were put. 

At the age of twenty-one I began to dream dreams and 
see visions. An uncle of mine, who had been in America, 
for thirteen years, returned and told some very phenomenal 
stories, as to how one might get rich there. These stories, 
together with the curiosity to "see the world/' allured me 
greatly. 

The real question was how to get money enough to pay 
for my passage. Mother and my friends objected to my 
coming, but I having prevailed, she endeavored to help me 
by borrowing $25 from a rich man with the understanding 
that she was to return, within six months, $50 or forfeit a 
portion of her property, which we boys had accumulated for 
her. Let me say right here, lest I forget, that within six 



200 



The Story of My Life. 



months after my arrival I earned not only fifty dollars but 
one hundred dollars, and sent fifty for the vampire and fifty 
for my mother. I always loved my precious mother. Leav- 
ing Italy Jan. 25, 1892, I landed in New York Feb. 24, with- 
out a friend to greet me, nor was I able to speak one 
word of the English language. For two years I worked 
in more than a dozen places, my chief occupation being ditch 
digger. In 1894 I became a store keeper for my people in 
Brunswick, Me., and sold cheese, macaroni, bologna, bread 
and all kinds of intoxicating stuff — thus for a while I was a 
saloon keeper. During this same fall the ground froze so 
hard that the men could not work and the Italians left for 
the winter. Providentially I was left behind in this town 
alone. I succeeded in getting a boarding place with an 
American family by the name of Forsaith. During the win- 
ter of 1895 Rev. W. B. Dukeshire, then pastor of the M. E. 
Church there, began a series of revival meetings with the 
Rev. I. T. Johnson as an evangelist. The people with whom 
I was boarding invited me to attend the meetings with them. 
I asked them why I should go and they said that I might 
become a Christian. I felt that I was deeply insulted, for 
I never knew what it was to be taken for anything else. 
The Roman Catholic Church, to which at that time I be- 
longed, taught me that I was such from my birth, and yet 
I knew all the time that in my heart there was much sin. 
However, to please them I went. Up to this time I had 
never been inside of a Protestant Church. It took all the 
nerve I had to stand that night's service and I never re- 



Autobiographies. 



201 



turned for seven successive nights. But, mind you, sir, the 
word preached by the evangelist, had gotten hold of me, 
though I could not understand very many words of the Eng- 
lish language. The Holy Spirit had done its work in con- 
victing me of my lost condition. I went again on the eighth 
night and it seemed that the evangelist had learned all about 
me, and described my life to the public, which I considered a 
very impolite thing for him to do, and I became very indig- 
nant. I remained just the same though. I could not find 
any comfort in anything or anywhere until I yielded to 
Christ, who saved my poor soul and I became a new creation 
in deed and in truth, Glory to God ! 

I went home a very happy boy. My hostesses were 
happy. Bro. Johnson, when he saw me rise from my knees, a 
saved child, jumped, what seemed to me, up to the ceiling. 
Bro. Dukeshire kept saying, "Amen ! Amen !" In that church 
there were some happy people that night. I have been won- 
dering if the angels in Heaven were. 

Just a word as to the first impulse that came to me the 
very next morning. I was now twenty-four years of age 
and never had learned the reading of my own name as yet. 
Some may understand this to mean in the English language, 
but I mean just what I say, I could not read my name in 
any language whatsoever. I had never seen the inside of a 
school in my life. The first impulse that came to me, after 
my conversion, w r as to learn how to read and write. In- 
forming my hostess' daughter concerning it, she at once be- 
gan to teach me the rudiments of English. Bro. Dukeshire 



202 



The Story o£ My Life. 



also came to see me often, and urged me to enter Kent's 
Hill Seminary, which I did on the 27th of Aug., 1895. The 
first year I took preparatory work, taking a regular course 
the year after, graduating with honor in 1900. Having been 
called to preach I realized the need of theological training. 
Being advised to enter Drew Theological Seminary, I did so 
that fall. After three years there I entered the Maine Con- 
ference, under the seminary rule, April 19th, 1903. 

The beginning of my ministry was rather discouraging, 
as you will see when I tell you I was sent to Long Island, 
Portland, Maine, a charge of a membership of nine; paying 
according to the conference minutes, not a cent for my salary. 
My four years' ministry there was blessed of God. Over 
one hundred and twelve souls were led to Christ. At the 
beginning of the third year the church had to be enlarged 
to accommodate the worshippers. The salary which I re- 
ceived, when I life, was $500; with a little help from the 
Missionary Board, and plenty of clams, we got along as fine 
as a king. 

I am writing this sketch the 15th day of May, 1912, at 
Berlin, N. H., I am just beginning my sixth year here. 
When I came here there was a small Sunday school of about 
fifty members. Last Sunday there were a hundred and 
eighty-six out. When I came there was a debt of $4,000, 
the same was paid off over two years ago. The congrega- 
tion has more than doubled so that extra seats are required 
most every normal Sunday. The salary paid to my prede- 
cessor was $432 cash and $100 from the Mission Board; to- 



ev. Rollix H. Stebbins. 



Autobiographies. 



203 



day, and the last year, also, I am receiving $1,000 cash salary, 
and one of the finest parsonages in the Conference to live in. 
The best of all is that every cent raised is being freely con- 
tributed. No supper or festival or bazaar is being held at 
any time to raise any portion of church expenses. To Him 
be all the glory! 

Brother Johnson has been with me twice as an evangelist 
and his work in his "spiritual sons' " church has been greatly 
blessed of God. May he be spared many years to the church 
of God which he so dearly loves. 

FELIX POWELL. 

Berlin, N. H., May, 1912. 

Rev. Rolun H. Stebbins. 

It is with great joy, and a heart full of praise and thanks- 
giving to God that I write the following sketch of my con- 
version and sanctification, work, present condition, and 
future prospects. My prayer is that God may use these lines 
to His glory that some one's heart may be touched, and that 
this may be the means of bringing many souls to God either 
for pardon or cleansing. First I feel it well to mention some 
things that led to my conversion. My parents were saved 
and sanctified when I was a small boy, therefore I was reared 
in a home where the Bible was read daily and where prayer 
was offered up to God, where holiness was talked about, en- 
joyed and lived. From the age of seven years, until my con- 
version, I was almost constantly under deep conviction. I 



204 



The: Story otf My Life. 



always knew what I ought to do but failed to do it. The 
Methodist pastors sent to our town during the years that 
I was growing to manhood, were not as spiritual as they 
ought to have been, and many of them, I fear, were more 
anxious to add members to the church than to see men really 
born of God. When I was about seventeen years of age our 
pastor came to me and urged me to join the church and after 
repeated efforts on his part, I consented and became a mem- 
ber of the Methodist Church at Johnson, Vermont. Many 
things came my way that deepened conviction. One thing 
that I never can forget, and which I never really got away 
from, I will mention here: About the time I was eighteen 
years of age I attended camp meeting on the old district 
camp ground at Morris ville, Vt., the evangelist that was en- 
gaged to do the preaching that year was Rev. I. T. Johnson. 
He labored faithfully and was instrumental in bringing many 
souls to God. I was under deep conviction all the while but 
instead of attending the services I spent the most of my time 
either in our tent or roaming through the woods. At this 
time I now mention, I was in the tent, wasting my time and 
trying to keep away from God, when suddenly the door 
opened and in walked the evangelist. I did not have time to 
run and before I had a chance to decide what to do, Bro. 
Johnson had seated himself, and drew me to his lap and with 
his arm about me talked to me about my soul. He talked 
so tenderly and yet so firmly, and with such a look of earnest- 
ness in his face, that it brought deeper conviction upon me 
and the tears rolled down my cheeks. The camp meeting 



Autobiographies. 



205 



came to a close, however, and I had not yielded to God. For 
several years two dear old saints with my father and mother 
prayed that God would send to our town a holiness preacher, 
and in answer to their prayers in the year 1900, Bro. Johnson 
was appointed as pastor of the Methodist Church at Johnson. 
He labored faithfully for three years, never shunning to de- 
clare the whole truth of God. Through his faithful ministry 
and his mighty faith in God a great revival came and scores 
were saved and sanctified. All these things brought deeper 
and deeper conviction upon me. About this time Bro. John- 
son purchased a piece of land below the town and established 
what is now known as the Ithiel Falls camp ground. It was 
on these grounds on September 3, 1904, that I finally yielded 
myself to God and found salvation in the good old-fashioned 
way. I had always wanted to be a Christian but had never 
before been quite willing to surrender, but now when all was 
surrendered the burden of sin rolled away. The witness of 
the Spirit came, the glory flooded my soul, and I had to shout 
and praise God aloud for His great salvation. One of the 
things that I had to say "yes" to was my call to preach, which 
was as real to me as my conversion. In the following July of 
1905 God opened the way for me and I took my first charge 
in southern Vermont. I had never tried to preach a sermon, 
but had faith in God and believed that He would see me 
through. I had heard holiness preached a great deal in my 
life and believed in it and sometimes really thought I had it, 
but after preaching (or rather reading my little twenty 
minute sermon) for about five Sabbaths with no signs of 



206 



Thk Story of My Life. 



conviction on the people, and finding myself really frightened 
as I stood before the people, I felt sure I did not have the 
blessing of perfect love. I read in the Bible : "Perfect love 
casteth out fear for fear hath torment," and "He that feareth 
is not made perfect in love." I therefore became desperate 
about it and spent the most of one week praying for the 
blessing of sanctification. I wanted perfect freedom in 
Jesus, and believed that He was able to give it. I prepared 
another sermon and when Sunday morning came I made my 
way to the church and was soon seated behind the pulpit. 
I had consecrated all to God the best I knew how but had not 
yet received what my heart longed for. I arose, announced 
the opening hymn, and while we sang "Jesus has lifted my 
load," the fire from Heaven fell on me, and as suddenly as 
the lightning ever flashed, I received the Holy Ghost. I had 
perfect freedom and I paced back and forth waving my book 
in the air and with tears streaming from my eyes, I sung with 
all my heart: "Jesus has lifted my load." The cold church 
members began to show that they were ill at ease and won- 
dered what had struck their preacher. As soon as we were 
through singing I told them what I had been praying for and 
what I had received. I announced my text : "But Abraham 
said, Son, remember." God blessed the preaching and I 
preached nearly an hour, actually forgetting that I had a 
written sermon lying on the pulpit. While I preached sin- 
ners cried and hypocrites sneered, but, hallelujah, I had vic- 
tory over the world, flesh, and the devil. 



Autobiographies. 



207 



The most of the past six years I have served as a pastor, 
and occasionally helped in evangelistic meetings, feeling es- 
pecially called to the evangelistic work. I am still pressing 
on the upward way, saved, sanctified, and kept through the 
precious blood of the Lamb. 

Jesus Christ, who brought salvation, 

Fills and thrills my very breast 

For He brought me out of bondage 

Into perfect peace and rest. 

Now the Prince of Peace is reigning 

Overruling all I see, 

Bringing sunshine, bringing gladness, 

Bringing joy and light to me. 

Once my steps were tending downward, 

Once I had no hope within ; 

Had no title to the mansion 

Built for those made free from sin. 

I could see no ray of sunlight, 

Nothing seemed to satisfy, 

Till I yielded all to Jesus, 

Prayed to Him, He heard my cry. 

Then through Christ, my Saviour, 
All my sins were cancelled there. 
And the burden lifted from me, 
For Christ Jesus answers prayer. 
What a change came o'er my being, 
What a joy came to me then, 
And He filled my lips with praises, 
Praises that shall never end. 



208 



The: Story of My Life. 



Jesus Christ, my blessed Saviour, 
Led me on from day to day, 
Kept me trusting- and obeying 
And believing all the way. 
Soon He led me safely over 
Into Canaan's land so fair, 
Where the wine and milk and hone}'-, 
Grapes and pomegranates are. 

Now I love to work for Jesus, 
Love to preach His blessed Word. 
And to strive to raise the fallen 
From the path of sin to God. 
May I always be found faithful, 
Always fighting against sin, 
'Till the gates of Heaven open 
And my soul is ushered in. 

Then when cares of life are ended 
And at last we've won the race, 
Oh, what joy to meet our Saviour, 
Who hath saved us by His grace. 
We will meet the dear ones yonder, 
Sing with them around the throne, 
Talk about the wondrous beauties 
Of our glorious Heavenly Home. 

Yours in Jesus, 

ROLLIN H. STEBBINS. 

Jan., 1912. 



Rev. Edgar A. Browxell. 



Autobiographies. 



209 



Edgar Aixinzo Browndll (Deceased). 

On May 16, 1875, in a little home among the hills of 
Bolton, Conn., was born a baby boy. The circumstances 
connected with this event were peculiarly sad, as his father 
had died two months previous ; but the brave little mother 
took up the double responsibility of being mother and father 
both to her baby and thanked God for this little life given to 
her in her loneliness. Thus Edgar Alonzo Brownell, or 
"Eddie" as he was lovingly and familiarly called, began his 
life. 

Generous, fun-loving and affectionate, his boyhood days 
found him surrounded by many friends and associates, among 
whom, he, by common consent, was leader. As he grew into 
young manhood, many were the prayers offered that he might 
give his life and service to God. At a very early age he 
learned telegraphy, and his trade as an operator brought him 
in contact with an element which made those interested in his 
spiritual welfare tremble, lest the enemy of all good enlist 
him in his ranks. But God was watching and had other plans 
for him. In the fall of 1895, when Edgar was twenty years 
old, Bro. I. T. Johnson, of Perkinsville, Vt, came to Bolton 
(Quarryville), to hold a series of meetings, Rev. S. V. Cross 
was pastor of the church at that time, and had taken much 
interest in the subject of this sketch. At one time I remem- 
ber of his saying to him, after he had given some careless 
reply to something he had said, "Ah, Eddie, we'll have a 
minister of you some day." Some smiled, they could not see 
the future. I shall not soon forget the season of refreshing 



210 



The Story of My Life. 



and spiritual uplift we received during the labors among us 
of that faithful servant of God, Bro. Johnson. Edgar at- 
tended the services, and being by nature endowed with the 
gift of song took quite an active part in the singing. For 
some days he seemed unmoved as far as any interest in his 
spiritual welfare was concerned. Bro. Johnson continued 
his powerful appeals from the pulpit and his personal en- 
treaties, but most effective of all, I believe, were the hours 
spent by this good man before the throne of God, pleading 
for the success of his work. I shall never forget one even- 
ing after the service, w T hen we went from the little church to 
my home (where Bro. Johnson was stopping), Eddie, among 
the number. Bro. Johnson had spoken a few earnest per- 
sonal words to him about his influence upon the other young 
people, by his refusing to come to Christ. Edgar had chosen 
to take offence, and went home saying that he would not at- 
tend any more of the meetings. He hardly closed the door 
when Bro. Johnson said, "That young man needs to be prayed 
for/' We all knelt, and such a prayer as he offered. 
" Heaven came dow T n our souls to greet and glory crowned 
the mercy seat." But what of the young man? Afterwards 
he told me that he had never had such an experience as he 
had that night. On his way home he felt afraid, a presence 
seemed to be following him, and all that night he realized 
that something was pleading with him, and thus conscious- 
ness brought with it fear and trembling. He little knew that 
the Christ who was pleading at the door of his closed heart 
would soon come in to abide with him forever, and instead 



Autobiographies. 



211 



of bringing with His entrance fear and torment would bring 
a joy unspeakable and full of glory. The following evening 
the text was from Revelation, "The Spirit and the Bride say, 
Come, and let him that heareth say, Come, and let him that is 
athirst come, and whosoever will let him take the water of 
life freely. " The Spirit of God had prepared the way, and 
when at the close of the sermon the evangelist said, "Is there 
one that will come tonight?" I waited but a moment, but in 
that moment Edgar arose and thus signified that the battle 
was over, and another victory won for the Christ of Calvary. 
What a fervent "Amen" swept through that congregation as 
this much-prayed-for young man knelt at the altar. I doubt 
not that in the presence of the angels of God there was great 
joy that night. 

Much might be said of the days that immediately fol- 
lowed, of his great love for the good man that had been the 
means of his conversion, of the new song that had been put 
in his mouth, of his great zeal in his Master's work. How 
well we remember the note of triumph which rang out when 
with his clear young voice he would sing 

"Did you hear what Jesus said to me? 
They're all taken away, away, 
Your sins are pardoned, and you are free, 
They're all taken away," 

and another, 

"My God is able to deliver thee, 
Though by sin oppressed, go to Him for rest, 
My God is able to deliver thee." 



212 



The Story of My Life. 



I must mention one or two incidents which I recall in 
connection with his baptism and uniting with the church. 
One Sabbath in October we went down to a beautiful spot, 
where a little brook ran across the roadside, and he knelt in 
the water while the Presiding Elder, Geo. H. Bates, of tender 
memory, poured the baptismal water on his head. Clouds 
had overspread the sky, but as the baptism was being per- 
formed it was noticed, by those present, that the sun sud- 
denly shone forth from the clouds, and a little bird burst into 
song, as if it, too, would add its voice in praise to Him who 
had redeemed this young life from sin. As we sang, "Jesus, 
I my cross have taken, All to leave and follow thee/' we felt 
that those beautiful words never voiced a truer sentiment. 
I remember well as we sang the last words of that hymn, they 
seemed to be prophetic, 

"Soon shall close thy earthly mission, 
Swift shall pass thy pilgrim days, 
Hope shall change to glad fruition, 
Faith to sight, and prayer to praise/' 

Alas, they proved too true. As we assembled in the church 
for the communion service, Edgar opened the Bible and 
pointed to the Scripture which reads, "If thy brother hath 
aught against thee, first go and be reconciled to thy brother, 
and then come and offer thy gift." "I can't receive the com- 
munion," he said, "until I have seen Mr. ," (men- 
tioning a neighbor who had thought that an injury had been 
done him). Edgar thought it must be made right, and I 
shall never forget how he left the church, went to that neigh- 



Autobiographies. 



213 



bor, who lived near by, made what amends he could, then re- 
turned and partook, for the first time, of the symbols of his 
Master's sacrifice for him. I heard him say afterwards that 
the forgiveness that he sought was given fully and freely by 
the friend he interviewed, and he mingled his tears with him 
as he confessed that he too was not blameless. Surely God 
came very near to us all that day. 

About two years later his marriage with the writer of 
this sketch occurred, and after much service in the little 
church, so dear to us as the place where he found Christ, he 
moved with his family to Manchester, Conn., where he was 
employed as ticket agent on the N. Y. N. H. and H. R. R. 
Here, as in his home town, he found opportunities for serv- 
ices for the Master, and that he was faithful to these op- 
portunities was well attested by the tribute paid him by his 
pastor, Rev. W. F. Taylor, at his funeral. Edgar had always 
felt, since his conversion, that his life work must be preach- 
ing the Gospel. So when the call came from the New Eng- 
land Conference to supply the churches at Mundale and Gran- 
ville, Mass., he thankfully and gladly accepted it. We went 
there in the spring of 1906. (He had sometime previous to 
this had a local preacher's license, and had supplied several 
churches temporarily in our own Southern N. E. Conference). 
For two years and a half he labored unceasingly for this peo- 
ple. How much they loved him, and appreciated his work 
among them is well known by any who visit either of these 
places and mention the name of Bro. Brownell. The follow- 



214 



The Story of My Life. 



ing quotation from Dean Stanley seems to me to say just 
what I believe his people would like to say of him. 

"He has achieved success who has lived well, laughed 
often and loved much ; who has gained the respect of intel- 
ligent men and the love of little children ; who had filled his 
niche and accomplished his task; who has left the world bet- 
ter than he found it, whether by an improved poppy, a perfect 
poem, or a rescued soul ; who has never lacked appreciation 
of the earth's beauty or failed to express it; who has looked 
for the best in others and given the best he had; whose life 
has been an inspiration ; whose memory is a benediction." He 
labored under difficulties. Handicapped as he was by failing 
health, at times suffering intense pain, he gave his life for his 
people. He had the great joy of seeing the fruits of his Ta- 
bors in both parishes, for during his ministry "many were 
added to the church of such as should be saved." He made 
a brave fight for the life that was dear to him on account of 
his family and his work. Medical skill failed to cope success- 
fully w r ith the fatal Bright's Disease. In the early par* of 
November, 1908, he was taken with a fearful attack of the 
disease wdiile at the home of a much-loved friend, and parish- 
ioner, Miles J. Rose, of Granville. For two weeks the battle 
for his life continued, but without avail. It was so hard for 
him to leave this life just at that time so full of work for the 
cause he loved, so hard to leave the wife and little family of 
four children so dependent upon him. Nevertheless, he knew 
"in whom he had believed" and could look up into his Father's 
face and say, "Thy will be done." On the 28th of November 



Rev. Herbert M. Rockwell. 



Autobiographies. 



215 



1908 he passed away to be "forever with the Lord." ' Like his 
Master he began his ministry at the age, of thirty and com- 
pleted his work three years later. Shall we say com- 
pleted? His influence still lives, and as his friends affection- 
ately said of him after he passed on "To live in the hearts of 
those we leave behind .us, is not to die." I have seen him sit 
down to the organ, during those last years of pain and sing 
with such pathos, "Oh joy that seekest me through pain, I 
cannot close my Heart to thee: I trace the rainbow through 
the rain and feel the promise is not vain That morn will tear- 
less be." In that "tearless morn" he rejoices to-day. We miss 
him — oh so sadly — but we sorrow not as those without hope. 
In the resurrection morning we expect to meet him again, 
father, children, wife, mother, reunited in the kingdom of God. 
We laid him to rest in the little cemetery at Bolton, near the 
church he loved so well, on December 1, 1908, just as the sun 
was setting over the western hills, in a blaze of glory. As we 
looked we thought of the city whose builder and maker is 
God, where the inhabitants thereof shall nevermore say, "I 
am sick," and where God, Himself, shall wipe away our tears, 
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. 

MRS. E. A. BROWNELL. 

Springfield, Mass., 1912. 

Rev. Herbert M. Rockwell. 

I was born in Boston, February 23, 1890. I had the best 
of home training, my parents being Christians, and was edu- 
cated in the Boston public schools. Once I sought the peace 



216 



The Story otf My Lira. 



of salvation and joined the church. For awhile I enjoyed the 
Christian life but soon fell away from the experience. After 
graduating from the high school I secured employment as a 
bank messenger and clerk in one of the large Boston banks, 
where I worked for more than a year and a half. My parents 
moved to Woodstock, Vt., and I went there with them. Here 
I came under the influence of the Rev. I. T. Johnson and sev- 
eral earnest Christians, who were holding a camp meeting 
near my home. I might say that my views bordered almost 
upon skepticism and that I held rigidly to my own ideas. At 
first their methods amused me but I could not help seeing 
that they enjoyed their religion, and had the courage of their 
convictions. Their talks and appeals made no impression 
upon my heart, but I began to reason with myself, as I thought, 
but I soon found that some influence more powerful than my- 
self was at work. I was under the conviction of the Holy 
Spirit. Life for a few days was very miserable to me. I 
could neither rest nor be happy. I knew that God was work- 
ing with me and half wanted to give in. What a battle I had 
with myself. For a week I held out but finally I decided 
to give in to the Lord. I was so afraid of an emotional ex- 
perience that I waited until after the meeting and went to my 
room, there, kneeling beside my bed, I gave my heart to God 
and received the promised blessing. The feeling of depression 
at once left me, and I was indeed happy. I knew what the 
promised peace of God was. At my conversion one question 
seemed to bother me, it was constantly before me, "Will you 
preach?" I always said, "Of course I will, if the Lord wants 



Autobiographies. 



21 7 



me, but I know He never will." After my conversion the 
question did not leave me but haunted me constantly. Friend 
after friend came to me and told me that they thought that 
the Lord wanted me to preach. I thought I was never to get 
away from that question. It was before me the first thing 
in the morning and the last at night. Of course the Lord 
would never call me, but one day I awoke to the fact that the 
Lord was calling me, the Lord's hand was upon me. I 
promised the Lord, upon my knees, that if He would open 
the way for me to study for the ministry I would go. Then 
I received peace but I knew that I would have to preach. 
When, where, or how, I did not know, but I knew that my 
feeling was summed up in the words of Paul : "Woe is me 
if I preach not the Gospel." Nearly a year passed and no 
opportunity for study offered itself and I felt if the Lord 
wanted me that He would open the way. A year after the 
time of my conversion I felt that the Lord was about to open 
the way. A friend referred me to a school where he thought 
I could work my entire way. I wrote with no results. I 
planned to return to Boston and made arrangements to go to 
work there. I was about to start when like a flash from 
Heaven came the call. It was as a thunder bolt from a clear 
sky. I received a letter from the school, where I had written, 
offering me the opportunity of working my entire way. I 
kept my word and went to the Theological school. An op- 
portunity soon appeared for me to preach and I took ad- 
vantage of it at once, and have been preaching ever since 
when and wherever the Lord gives me the opportunity. My 



218 



Tut Story o£ My Lim. 



first sermon was in my home church, the First Baptist Church 
in Dorchester, Mass. I shall not soon forget, with what cor- 
dial welcome I w 7 as received there and how they encouraged 
me. I also applied for and received from them a license to 
preach. At present I am working with the First Baptist 
church in Windsor, Vt. The call to preach still sounds in my 
soul, but not as before for as I feel it I rejoice in it. I cer- 
tainly feel that I have a lot to testify to, for it is less than two 
years since I found the peace of God. I have found salvation 
all the Bible promises and do not regret the day I turned to 
the Lord. I was not different from other young men, I loved 
the things that they do, and as my friends can testify, a great 
change has come over me. I can say, as in the ninth chapter 
of the Gospel of John, "Wherein I was blind now I see." I 
do not say that it is an easy life for I believe, like every good 
thing, it takes the best that is in one. However, there is a 
joy, a peace, and a satisfaction that nothing else can give. 
God bless Bro. Johnson, in his soul-saving work, for it was 
largely through his interest and efforts that I was converted. 
I rejoice in his testimony for I know him for a true man of 
God. May God's richest blessing rest upon him. 

Yours in Jesus, 

HERBERT M. ROCKWELL. 
Windsor, Vt., June, 1912. 




EUGEXE A. 



Hawkins. 



Autobiographies. 



219 



BUSINESS MEN. 

Eugene A. Hawkins. 
I was born in Sheldonville, town of Wrentham, Mass. 
My parents were earnest Christians, my father being deacon 
of the Baptist church and superintendent of the Sunday 
School. I attended the village school and later the high 
school of Wrentham. At the age of fifteen I moved with my 
parents to North Attleboro, Mass., and entered the employ of 
Whiting Mfg. Co., serving an apprenticeship of three years, 
at the expiration of which I went with them to New York 
City. Owing to a nervous breakdown induced by too close 
application to work and evening study, I was obliged to give 
up work returning to North Attleboro. About this time 
Bro. Johnson was holding meetings at the Free Evangelical 
church and happening into one of these I responded to the 
first invitation and experienced a remarkable conversion. I 
was married about a year later to Mathilda A. Magovern of 
New York, taking up my residence in Plainville, Mass. I 
then entered the employ of Whiting & Davis, remaining with 
them until December, 1906, when I engaged with S. G. Man- 
dalian, under the firm name of Mandalian & Hawkins, in the 
manufacture of mesh bags which has since become an im- 
portant branch of the jewelry industry. I attribute my suc- 
cess in life wholly to my early religious training and my con- 
version under Brother Johnson at which time I took for my 
life motto, Prov. 3 : 5, 6. 

Very truly, 

E. A. HAWKINS. 

No. Attleboro, Mass. 



220 



The Story of My Life:. 



Carl H. West. 

I first saw the light of day in the little red house one mile 
north of Union, N. Y. My mother worshipped at the Baptist 
church and while I was yet very small, my mother, with my 
older brother, would take me on horseback and go to church, 
three miles distant. Later a Methodist church was built in 
Union, which my mother joined, and I finished my creeping 
days on a Methodist church floor. Brought up and trained 
in the Methodist church, going one mile to morning service 
and Sunday School, again in the evening and prayer meet- 
ing, on Thursday evening. I knew no marked change at con- 
version, only to renounce the world and live for Christ, which 
brought great comfort and satisfaction. This resolution was 
brought out by the preaching and efforts of Bro. I. T. John- 
son, during a six-weeks revival in the Methodist church at 
Union, N. Y., with George T. Price, as pastor. My educa- 
tion was started in the little red school house in the country, 
dressed up in the Union public school, going from there to the 
Wyoming Seminary, where I was graduated. In September, 
1893, I entered Purdue University but in two years my 
health failed and by the time I was able to take up school 
work again the panic of '95 made it impossible for me to 
do so. I tried several different occupations, trying to find 
something that I could stand, and finally became a teacher of 
manual training in the schools in Buffalo and this position 
I now hold. I have had many ups and downs, but during 
it all I have kept constantly associated with the church work, 



Autobiographies. 



221 



giving especial attention to the Epworth League and Sunday 
School, and am at present teacher of the young men's class. 
All that I am or hope to be I owe to the fact that I have tried 
to live a strict consistent Christian life. Religion is my chief 
joy and all my recreation. I would not exchange it for all 
that the world offers. 

Your brother, 

CARL H. WEST. 

853 Prospect Ave., Buffalo, N. Y. 



Dr. Peter Hanson, V. S. 

I was born in Kansas, in 1884. My parents were both 
Christians and members of the Presbyterian church, and 
trained me up in the Christian life until their death, which 
occurred when I was eight years old. I was bereft of both 
of my parents in the same year. After their death I worked 
at various occupations, and attending school. After I had 
finished my school I worked among horses in different places 
until I came to California and worked for Dr. Creely in his 
Veterinary Hospital and then entered the Veterinary College 
in 1906, and graduated from the same in 1909, then starting 
in my professional work at Portland, Oregon. The next year 
I left for McMinnville, Ore., where I have since been prac- 
ticing. I was converted in May, 191 1, under the preaching 
of Rev. I. T. Johnson, who was holding meetings in the M. E. 



222 



The: Story of My Lira. 



church here. I joined the Methodist church, and they soon 
honored me by electing me a member of the official board. I 
feel that Christ has done a great deal for me since I gave my 
heart to Him. I am proud to say that I am the President 
of the Progress Bible Class. I know that long before I 
yielded myself to Christ that many friends were praying for 
me and when I heard Bro. Johnson present the Christian's 
life so plainly, I was convinced it was my time to yield to Him, 
and did so, and He saved me for which I praise His name. 
Bro. Johnson asked me to write what religion had been to me 
in my business and I want to say that it has been of great ben- 
efit to me, for many people who would not patronize me, 
on account of my wicked habits, are my best clients now. I 
have also been appointed County Live Stock Inspector, which 
I am sure is due only to the change in my spiritual life that 
has completely changed my moral life. I can never cease to 
praise the Lord that there are such men as Bro. Johnson who 
are willing to make so many sacrifices for the benefit of the 
unsaved. May God bless him for what he has done for me 
in being enabled, under the Saviour, to show me the only true 
way to live. I have a joy and peace of mind which I cannot 
express. Only Christ and I know how much happiness the 
Christian life has brought to me. I want to say a word in 
closing, of my pastor, Rev. Brackenberry and Bro. Atkinson, 
and the members of the church for their kindly interest in me 
and the help they gave me as a young convert. Often the 
older Christians do not realize how much help a new convert 
needs, and if they would only speak an encouraging word, 



ROLLIX Bassett. 



Autobiographies. 



223 



once in a while, it would help us to come into the full joy of 
the Christian life so much sooner. God bless you, Bro. John- 
son, for what you have done for me and especially for leading 
me to see my utter need of a Saviour, one that can save to 
the uttermost. 

Very respectfully, 

PETER HANSON. 

McMinnville, Ore. 

Roujn Bassdtt. 

I was born in the little hill town of Heath, western part 
of Franklin County, Mass., son of William and Antoinette 
Joy Bassett. I was one of six children, two brothers having 
died, just a week apart, of diphtheria in 1862. My mother 
was from early life a thoroughly Christian woman, and my 
father, though not a professing Christian, was quite regular 
in attendance at church, so that my home influences were for 
good, and early in life I learned to attend church, and was 
also fond of the Sunday School. Later having developed 
something of a talent for music I began singing tenor in the 
choir or at times played the church organ, which position I 
held for some four years. But for all this and notwithstand- 
ing I was considered a fairly average moral young man, there 
was constantly a feeling that I was not yet right in the sight 
of God. Late in November, 1874, Rev. W. E. Dwight, pastor 
of our M. E. church, engaged the services of Bro. L T. John- 
son, and he appeared, as I remember, the first time, in our 
church Sunday morning, Nov. 15th, preaching from the text 



224 



The: Story of My Life. 



found in John II, 28: "The Master is come and is calling for 
thee/ 7 This was when I was past nineteen years old. It was 
a powerful sermon, and somehow it seemed as though every 
word of it was fired at me, but still I yielded not to the 
Master's call, but had become interested and during the week 
attended some of the evening services, conviction getting 
a deeper hold all the while. The following Sunday found me 
in my accustomed place with the choir. Bro. Johnson took 
for his text the last clause of Mark II : 22 : "Have faith in 
God." This was the accepted time with me. I yielded to the 
Spirit's call and with many others, went forward for prayers, 
found the blessed Saviour ready to receive me, and how He 
filled my heart and soul with joy and happiness. I wanted to 
go right out and bring in others. Not many days after my 
father and many others, very dear to me, were numbered 
with those who had sought and found the Saviour. I think 
there w r ere over thirty converted during the two weeks or so 
that Bro. Johnson was with us ; and as far as I am able to 
know, I believe the most of them have become active in Chris- 
tian work. My mother died in 1896, my father in 1901, both 
happy in the Christian faith. In 1879 I was married in 
East Charlemont to Miss Emma L. Howard, by her pastor, 
the late Rev. C. L. Guild. My wife was a devoted Christian 
girl and a member of the Congregationalist Church, of that 
place. I had taken possession of the "Old Homstead" the 
previous April, my parents having moved to the centre of the 
town, and after our marriage we immediately took up the 
work that they had laid down and for nearly nineteen years 



Autobiographies. 



225 



we worked together cleaning up the debt on our farm, and 
making improvements which we might enjoy in later life. 
My wife took her letter from her home church to our M. E. 
church, which I had joined some five years earlier. Together 
we erected our family alter, reading God's Holy Word, and 
together offering our prayer to Him, who had so greatly 
blessed our lives. Seven dear children were born to us here 
in the old home. In 1898 we moved away from the old home 
to a new house in Greenfield Meadows, where two more chil- 
dren came to bless our happy home. Sorrows come sooner 
or later to all, and in December, 1901, our baby, of only two 
months, a bright little girl, whom we had learned to love, was 
taken from us to the home above. In July, 1908, our eldest 
son, a fine, manly fellow of twenty-seven years, who had been 
for five years a postal clerk in Springfield postoffice, was ac- 
cidentally drowned in the Agawam River, near that city. The 
telegram came like a bolt out of a clear sky to his parents and 
the whole family. In April, 1909, the farm was left in charge 
of the oldest son then living, who had been married the pre- 
vious December, and we moved into town, where we hoped 
to take life a little easier, my wife and I having worked hard 
for thirty years, and perhaps the sorrows of recent years tell- 
ing on our lives. On Oct. 6 the same year, only six months 
after our occupying our new home, came the heaviest blow, 
and the deepest sorrow of all, for the dear wife and mother 
was suddenly taken, after only one hour of suffering and sick- 
ness, to her Heavenly home and I was left so lonely, and not 
alone, for God was with me, and the seven dear children to 



226 



The Story of My Lim. 



comfort and help me bear this, the greatest sorrow of my life. 
I am glad also to say that my children are all members of our 
church, and I trust are trying to live the blessed life which 
their dear mother and myself have tried to present before 
them. Some blessed day I expect to meet all these dear ones 
and an innumerable company, including our dear Bro. John- 
son, who has been so faithful and instrumental in bringing 
so many into the fold. May God's richest blessing rest upon 
all who may read this and may we all meet in His Kingdom. 
In His love, respectfully, 

ROLLIN BASSETT. 

Greenfield, Mass. 

Robert E. Perrego. 

I was born in Dallas, Penn., at a time when this fair land 
of ours was being bruised and torn by the terrible experiences 
of a civil war. To be exact as to date of birth it occurred on 
the day that Commodore Foote captured the city of Memphis, 
Tenn. My father was a volunteer soldier in this great strug- 
gle, serving under the colors of Company "G," one hundred 
and seventy-seventh Pennsylvania regiment. 

Our family consisted of father, mother, three girls and 
one boy, all are still living. 

Our home was a place in which Christ was honored and 
His name revered. I count this fact as one of the greatest 
advantages that could come into the life of any young man. 
In common, I suppose with all, or at least most boys, I believe 
my mother to be the greatest woman in all the world, and as 




R. E. Perrego. 



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227 



the years come and go I am learning more and more to ap- 
preciate her worth and to understand something of the sacri- 
fices she made to have her children brought up in the fear 
of the Lord. There is a good old song that we sometimes 
sing: "The best friend to have is Jesus," and that is true. 
It is also true that the next best friend is mother, and I have 
always felt a deep sympathy for the boy who has been bereft 
of her kindly affection and tender love. No other hand can 
bring such sw T eet relief to the fevered brow, no other voice but 
mother's can bring harmony out of discord. The influence of 
her quiet presence will never leave a boy no matter how far 
he may go, or how long he may stay — blessed memory. Would 
to God that every boy who reads these lines would early learn 
to appreciate his mother, as he will do in the later years or, 
perhaps, after she is taken from him. The one great regret 
of my life is that I did not always follow the teachings of my 
mother. I realize now how much bitterness of spirit I would 
have been spared, and how much less of anxiety and heart 
breaking, she would have been called upon to endure, had I 
followed in the way she so earnestly pointed out. As I 
now recall the experiences of my boyhood it is not hard to see 
where the things that were so burdensome then have proven 
to be of great blessing in later years, for instance the matter 
of Sabbath observance was rigidly enforced in our home, and 
as a boy, of seemingly exhaustless energies, the thought of 
having to stay about the house all of Sunday that was left 
after attending Sunday school, preaching service, and class 
meeting, was indeed almost beyond the endurance of a sound, 



228 



The Story of My Life. 



healthy boy. One could almost believe that the red squirrels 
knew that it was the Sabbath day and therefore felt per- 
fectly free to chase each other up and down the length of the 
old rail fence, along the garden, chattering in their freedom 
with most tantalizing glee. The hoarse voices of the bull 
frogs, in the near-by mill pond, seemed unusually aggravating 
as they croaked in ceaseless chorus, and seemed to say, "come 
on out/' "can't come out," "come on out," "can't come out." 
It has a hard lesson to learn and the burden was very heavy 
for young shoulders, but the discipline has been of lasting 
benefit, and especially so in recent years in this great western 
country where the tendency is to make of Sunday a holiday 
rather than to observe it as a holy day. 

With all the advantages that come to one through living 
in a Christian atmosphere I really do not know why I did not 
become a Christian years before I did. There was never a 
time in my life, probably, when I did not feel a deep convic- 
tion that I ought to give myself to Jesus Christ, and fully ex- 
pected at some future time so to do. I rather enjoyed attend- 
ing church services so long as the preacher confined his re- 
marks to things indefinite and general in character, and 
avoided making a personal application of the lesson by an ap- 
peal to men and women to accept Jesus Christ as a personal 
Saviour. How little the preacher knows of the hearts of his 
hearers. Perhaps many souls would have yielded had the in- 
vitation been pressed a little longer, or it may be some one 
would be driven away were he urged unduly. Surely the 
Holy Spirit must direct in these matters. The thing that 



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229 



gripped my heart with a hold that would not let go, nor did 
not let go, was a letter from my mother in which she, re- 
ferring to a time when I lay very near to death's door, said: 
"It was the only time in my life that I could not pray. 
No tears, even, would come to relieve my agony of soul. All 
that I could say was, 'O, God, must he go, and unprepared?' " 
It seems to me now, that if, when under the influence 
of some heart-searching sermon, some one had said to me, 
"Will you not accept Christ now ?" that I would have done so. 
With the single exception of my mother, I do not recall that 
anyone ever asked me to be a Christian, until one night, dur- 
ing a series of revival meetings held in Plymouth, Pennsyl- 
vania, by the Rev. I. T. Johnson. How many many things 
flood my memory as I recall the time. I knew before going 
to the meeting that I would be brought under conviction, but 
do not think that the idea of yielding had taken hold upon me. 
The words of the text were : "Zacchaeus, make haste and 
come down, for to-day I must abide at thy house." Of 
course the preacher did not know me, but had he stood at the 
end of the pew, in which I sat, and pointed directly at me, the 
sermon could not have been more personal. When the in- 
vitation to come to the altar, was given, my roommate, who 
had invited me to the meeting, said, "Come on," and I came. 
If Zacchaeus had been perched upon the limb of "curiosity" 
it is quite possible that mine was the limb of "not now" — 
treacherous place — and all that was needed was for some one 
to convince me of its treacherousness, which the preacher did, 
when he said that this probably would be Zacchaeus' last op- 



230 



The Story of My Life. 



portunity to see Jesus, and that without doubt there were 
those in the audience who might never have another chance 
to accept Him. God alone knows whether or not another op- 
portunity would have come to me, but I was fully convinced 
that this was my last one, and so like Zacchaeus, I came 
down and received Him joyfully. If Zacchaeus, as the 
preacher said he believed, was converted somewhere between 
the last limb and the ground, I am sure that a change came 
to my heart somewhere between the pew in which I had been 
sitting, and the altar, and to-day it is the most positive thing 
in my life. 

The beauty of religion, to me, is that it is adapted to all 
classes and conditions of men, everywhere, and more especial- 
ly can it be recommended to the man in business and commer- 
cial life. It has often been said that a man cannot be a Chris- 
tion and compete with the non-Christian as a salesman. That 
may be true of a dishonest business house, w T ith dishonest 
goods, but it is not true of the great business corporations 
that stand in the forefront of the commercial world. Being 
in personal touch with more than five hundred salesmen and 
auditors, and having a business acquaintance with very many 
more, it is with great pleasure that I say that the Christians 
among the number are second to none in business ability, and 
they far exceed the others in the esteem of their fellow em- 
ployees. Thousands of boys are employed in the offices and 
factories of this great city. The boy of good character and 
clean habits, and willing to work, will sooner or later win 
his way to the top round of the ladder, while the lad who is 



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231 



indolent, untidy in appearance, and whose forefingers bear 
the yellow stain of the cigarette, drifts, invariably, towards 
the bottom. 

When we read of the wonderful deeds of the Lord 
Jesus, while He was here upon earth, and then look about us 
and see the work of redeeming grace that is still going on, 
we feel like exclaiming aloud in the words of the hymn : 
"All hail the power of Jesus' name 

Let angels prostrate fall, 
Bring forth the royal diadem 
And crown Him Lord of all." 

ROBERT E. PERREGO. 

Chicago, 111., May, 1912. 



OCT 10 1912 



